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The   Evolution   of 
Immortality 


WRITINGS  BY  C.  T.  STOCKWELL. 


NEW  MODES  OF  THOUGHT. 
The  New  Materialism  and  The  New  Pantheism.   Cloth, 
gilt  top,  f  1.00  net  (postage  7  cents). 

' '  Here  we  have  presented,  in  the  most  concise  and  com- 
prehensive shape,  what  has  not  hitherto  come  into  print : 
the  momentous  trend  of  chemistry,  physics,  and  philos- 
ophy to  one  and  the  same  end."— Springfield  Jiepiwlican. 
"  Here  is  a  volume  one  should  possess.  Read  the  chap- 
ter, 'Begotten,  not  Created,'  and  you  will  thank  the 
critic  for  calling  your  attention  to  the  book."—  Unity. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  IMMORTALITY. 
Suggestions  of  an  Individual  Immortality  based  upon 
our  Organic  and  Life  History.    Fourth  edition:  re- 
vised and  extended.   Cloth,  gilt  top,  $1 .00  net  (postage 
8  cents). 

"  One  of  the  most  suggestive  and  best  developed  es- 
says on  personal  immortality  which  later  years  have 
produced."— ii*erary  World.   "  A  thoughtful  and  sug- 


gestive  treatise."—  The  Independent.  «' well  worthy  of 
study."—  The  Critic.  "  A  thoughtful  book  worth  read- 
ing."—^*Zan,tic  Monthly. 


JAMES  H.  WEST  CO.,  Pubflshers,  Boston. 


The  Evolution  of 
Immortality 


Suggestions  of  an  Individual  Immor- 
tality Based  upon  Our  Organic 
AND  Life  History 


BY 

C.  T.  Stockwell 

Author  of  "  New  Modes  of  Thought :  The  New  Material- 
ism and  The  New  Pantheism,"  etc. 


JFonrti;  Eliitton:  ISlebtseti  anH  ^xtenlieli 


BOSTON 

JAMES    H.   WEST   COMPANY 

1906 


rr»'.EBMI 


Copyright,  1887 
By  Charles  H.  Kerr  &  Company 

Copyright,  1906 
By  James  H.  West  Company 


tJTo 


AMOS    EMERSON    DOLBEAR 

M.  E.,    PH.D.,    LL.  D. 

PROFESSOR  OF   PHYSICS    IN   TUFTS   COLLEGE 

LONG    TIME     FRIEND    AND    SYMPATHETIC    CRITIC 

WHOSE  AGREEMENT   I    HOLD 

TO    MEET    ME  AFTER   A   THOUSAND    YEARS 

TO   TALK   OVER    MORE    FULLY  THE   GREAT    MATTERS 

TREATED   OF   IN   THIS    LITTLE   BOOK. 


1  r)5H5« 


Death  has  no  power  the  immortal  part  to  slay. 
Which,  when  its  present  body  turns  to  clay. 
Seeks  a  fresh  home,  and  with  unminished  might 
Inspires  another  frame  with  life  and  light. 

—  Pythagoras. 

All  that  is,  at  all. 

Lasts  ever,  past  recall ; 
Earth  changes,  but  thy  soul  and  God  stand  sure  : 

What  entered  into  thee. 

That  was,  is,  and  shall  be  : 
Time's  wheel  runs  back  or  stops  :  Potter  and  clay 
endure. 


(8) 


Preface 


DEING  convinced  that  an  individual 
^^  immortality  lies  outside  of  the  realm 
of  demonstration ;  that  it  is  a  conscious- 
ness, a  possession,  an  apprehension  if  any- 
thing, the  aim  of  the  writer  as  embodied 
in  this  little  book  is  to  make  it  merely 
suggestive.  Should  his  work,  therefore, 
prove  helpful  in  this  direction  to  any  who 
may  read,  it  will  have  sufficiently  accounted 
for  itself 

There  are  two  or  three  questions  not 
touched  upon  in  the  body  of  the  volume 
that  will,  quite  likely,  arise  in  the  minds 
of  some  who  give  this  line  of  reasoning 
careful  thought,  which  I  desire  to  mention 
here: 


lo  Preface 

I.  If,  as  is  claimed,  self-consciousness 
is  spirit  birth,  and  the  individual,  from  the 
point  of  attaining  self-consciousness,  is  an 
immortal  being,  the  question  will  very  nat- 
urally arise  regarding  the  destiny  of  spirit- 
ual embryos,  or  infants.  In  other  words  : 
Must  the  continuity  of  development  re- 
main unbroken  until  the  state  of  self- 
consciousness  is  reached  before  it  may  be 
said  that  an  immortality  is  possible  ?  In 
the  case  of  infants,  self-consciousness  and 
self-determining  powers  have  not  emerged 
above  the  potential  state.  But  as  human 
life  as  we  know  it  is  potential  in  the  em- 
bryo, so  self-consciousness  is  potential  in 
the  unconscious  infant.  And  right  here 
is  found  a  suggestion  of  an  answer  to  the 
question.  If  the  embryo  is  viable  human 
life  before  actual  birth,  may  we  not  believe 
that  the  infant,  even  before  self-conscious- 
ness becomes  an  actual  fact,  has  potential 
viable  spirit?      If  the  normal  period  of 


Preface  1 1 

physical  gestation  may  be  considerably 
shortened,  and  still  the  potential  life  of 
the  embryo  may  be  realized,  why  should 
we  not  suppose  that  a  like  law  relates  to 
the  spiritual  life  ? 

2.  It  will  also  be  noted  that,  assuming 
self-consciousness  to  be  spirit  birth,  other 
forms  of  life,  below  man,  may  not  possess 
viable  spirit,  and,  consequently,  do  not 
have  the  quality  or  property  of  immortality 
common  to  man.  Professor  Le  Conte,  of 
the  University  of  California,  has  written 
on  this  and  similar  points  very  strongly 
and  convincingly,  under  the  head  of 
"  Relation  of  Man  to  Nature,"  to  which 
reference  may  be  had  to  tbe  advantage  of 
such  as  are  interested  enough  to  pursue  the 
matter  further.  In  this  connection,  how- 
ever, it  is  an  unimportant  consideration. 

3.  If  it  should  seem  to  some  that  the 
element  of  a  personal  will  has  been  over- 
looked in  the  conclusions  arrived  at,  this 


1 2  Preface 

must  result,  as  it  appears  to  me,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  failure  on  the  part  of  such  to 
apprehend  the  full  meaning  of  the  term 
used  so  often,  viz. :  environment.  By  this 
term,  in  its  largest  sense,  is  meant  the  in- 
finity of  spiritual  forces  that  press  down 
upon  and  around  every  human  being  with 
the  constancy  of  gravitation  itself.  In  fact, 
from  the  viewpoint  of  science  to-day,  all 
forces  are  spiritual  forces,  and  the  order 
and  sequences  of  law  are  inseparable  from 
any  clear  concept  of  God. 

The  whole  realm  of  morals  lies  between 
the  inheritance  of  imperfection,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  perfection  of  the  spiritual 
nature  and  being,  on  the  other.  As  God 
—  of  whom  by  Gospel  and  by  Law  we  are 
taught  to  say  "  Our  Father** — is  superior 
to  any  supposed  devil ;  as  good  is  more 
enduring  than  evil  —  an  imperfect  good ; 
in  short,  as  infinite  spiritual  forces  are 
stronger  than  the  imperfections  that  come 


Preface  1 3 

down  to  us  by  inheritance,  so  may  our 
faith  be  as  regards  the  ultimate  destiny  of 
that  upon  which  these  forces  operate.  We 
are  indeed  self-determining  beings  ;  we  are 
free  to  run  counter  to  law ;  not,  however, 
to  the  injury  of  the  law,  for  it  mercifully 
and  continually  repays  tithe  by  tithe,  and 
will  claim  the  last  farthing.  But  the  whole 
of  life  is  an  education,  a  discipline,  which 
is  calculated  to  result  in  that  choice,  that 
will,  that  action  which  is  in  harmony  with 
the  laws  of  Nature,  which  are,  in  them- 
selves, essentially  spiritual.  Law  vindi- 
cates itself  by  its  power  to  save,  not  by 
destroying.  Law  is  our  divinely  appointed 
schoolmaster,  and  it  is  capable  of  justifying 
its  appointment.  It  is  appointed  with  a 
purpose  and  for  an  end ;  and  the  divine 
ends  are  believed  to  be  sure  by  the 

Author. 

Springfield,  Mass.,  September,  1887. 


Contents 


PAGE 

Preface 9 

I.     Introductory 17 

II.     Of  Embryological  and  Cell  Life 20 

III.  Of  Life  and  Matter 38 

IV.  Of  Analogies 48 

V.     Of  Law  as  Manifested  in  Organic  Evolution  60 

VI.  Of  the  Fundamental  Spiritual  Identity  be- 
tween Man  and  God  in  Point  of  Essen- 
tial Nature 71 

VII.     Of  the  Origin  and  Evolution  of  Consciousness    81 
VIII.     Of  a  Consciousness  of  Limitations  ....      91 

IX.    The  Forward  Look 99 

X.     Discussion 106 

XI.     Aftermath 142 


The   Evolution   of 
Immortality 


Introductory 

IT  may  be  stated,  with  little  fear  of  contra- 
diction, that  the  two  great  questions  ever 
uppermost  in  the  minds  of  men  are  concerning 
God  and  Immortality.  There  never  was  a 
time,  however,  in  all  the  history  of  the  world, 
when  the  advanced  or  progressive  thought  of 
man  with  reference  to  these  questions  came 
so  near  centering  upon  a  common  plane  as 
to-day.  The  pioneers  of  theology,  philosophy, 
and  science,  having  come  up  different  sides 
of  the  mountain  of  thought  and  research,  are 


1 8  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

now  looking  each  other  squarely  in  the  face 
at  the  top.  Each  school  is  eagerly  endeavor- 
ing, as  never  before,  to  compass  the  whole 
range  of  revelation.  The  time  has  come  when 
science  even  claims  its  inherent  right  to  deal 
with  the  questions.  The  age  of  strict  materi- 
alistic science  has  passed,  and  the  world  is 
beginning  to  understand  that  there  is  a  scien- 
tific method  in  dealing  with  things  that  do  not 
pertain  to  matter  alone ;  that  science,  philos- 
ophy, and  religion  are  divine  handmaids  of 
truth,  with  common  aims  and  purposes,  work- 
ing for  the  evolution  of  the  common  brother- 
hood of  man. 

So  much  has  been  said  and  written  in  re- 
gard to  the  question  of  Immortality,  that  every 
conceivable  shade  of  thought  or  speculation 
bearing  upon  it  would  seem  to  have  been  pre- 
sented. There  remains,  however,  one  line  of 
suggestive  thought  which,  so  far  as  the  au- 
thor's personal  observation  extends,  has  not 
been  touched  upon ;  to  briefly  trace  which  is 
the  purpose  of  this  study. 

It  would  seem  reasonable,  at  least,  to  sup- 


Introductory  19 

pose  that  we  may  gain  some  reliable  data  upon 
which  to  postulate  a  continued  life  by  look- 
ing backward  along  the  line  of  the  actual 
past  whence  we  came ;  and,  also,  by  a  study 
of  life  itself  as  manifested  by  phenomena. 
"  The  history  of  the  world,"  it  has  been  said, 
"  is  the  true  premise  upon  which  to  postulate 
its  future."  If  this  be  so,  it  would  seem  to 
be  equally  true  with  reference  to  man  as  an 
individual.  If  we  may  discover  his  organic 
history  and  his  trend,  in  a  broad  sense,  we 
shall  come  nearer  an  apprehension  of  his  ulti- 
mate destiny. 

It  is  along  this  line  of  thought  that  atten- 
tion is  invited.  Let  us  drop  out  of  mind,  in 
the  present  work,  all  the  commonly  cited  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  an  immortal  existence,  and 
thoughtfully  observe  any  suggestive  analogies 
that  may  be  found  in  physical  science,  espe- 
cially in  embryological  and  cell  life,  that  may 
justly  be  considered  as  prophetic  of  a  con- 
scious individual  existence  after  what  is  called 
death. 


II 

Of  Embryological  and  Cell  Life 

WHAT  do  we  know  of  our  own  life  his- 
tory ?  What  do  we  know  of  its  origin  ? 
It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  we  were  born  of 
this  or  that  parentage,  or  at  a  certain  time  or 
place.  This  relates  simply  to  an  event,  or  to 
particular  events  in  our  history,  and  only  to 
that  part  of  it  which  appears  at  this  stage  of 
our  being,  this  world  of  our  existence.  We 
have  already  lived  in  another  stage  or  world, 
the  embryological,  and  have  been  brought 
forth  —  born  —  from  it  into  this.  We,  here, 
awake  to  a  consciousness  of  selfhood  and,  at 
least,  find  ourselves  related  to  an  infinite  past 
by  an  uninterrupted  connection.  Looking 
about  us  for  further  facts,  we  find  that  it  may 
fairly  be  assumed  that  life,  or  the  life-principle. 


Of  Embryo  logical  and  Cell  Life         21 

is  potentially  and  essentially  the  same  in  all 
past  stages  of  our  being  ;  that  it  made  its  own 
conditions  and  formed  its  own  environments, 
having  asked  no  questions  of  us ;  that  to  be 
born  or  to  die  simply  means,  for  the  real  iden- 
tity, a  change  of  worlds  or  environments  ;  that 
birth  and  death  are  allied  functions  of  life, 
each  the  act  or  event  of  the  emergence  of  an 
identity  from  a  lesser  to  a  higher  stage  or 
circle  of  existence ;  that  one  possesses,  or  ex- 
hibits, the  quality  of  destruction  no  more  than 
the  other ;  that  birth  marks  the  beginning  of 
a  definite  stage  of  physical  existence,  while 
death  is  its  closing  act  —  and  also  an  intro- 
duction to  another  and  higher  stage  ;  that  the 
only  difference  between  the  now  and  then,  in 
each  successive  stage,  is  that  which  results 
from  growth  or  development,  "  the  unfold- 
ment  or  evolution  of  a  potentiality  or  germ- 
ality  that  each  preceding  stage  possessed, 
although  obscured  from  the  sense  perception 
of  finite  beings." 

These  conclusions  are  based  upon  general 
facts  of  physical  science,  and  find  very  strong 


22  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

support  in  that  part  of  our  history  that  relates 
to  embryological  and  cell  life.  Hence  it  would 
seem  apparent  that  our  life  history  affords  a 
reasonable  premise  upon  which  to  postulate 
future  states. 

It  may  be  pardonable  if  it  is  here  stated 
that  a  personal  study  in  this  direction  has  led 
to  that  apprehension  of  the  real  meaning  of 
life  which  is  the  true  basis  of  a  recognition  of 
its  possessing  the  quality  of  immortality.  I 
do  not  think  this  too  strong  a  statement.  If, 
however,  "our  perception  of  one  object  con- 
tains a  series  of  recognitions,"  we  may  not 
hope  to  make  clear  to  others  the  validity  of 
such  recognition.  Yet  where  demonstration  is 
impossible,  suggestions  are  often  fruitful,  and 
along  this  line  it  is  proposed  to  notice  here 
a  few  prominent  facts  that  seem  to  be  charac- 
teristic of  antecedent  stages,  and  which,  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  analogy  and  con- 
tinuity, seem  to  be  prophetic  in  reference  to 
future  states  of  being. 

In  order  to  understand  the  full  import  and 
significance  of  the  embryological  period,  we 


Of  Emhryological  and  Cell  Life         23 

must  trace  it  back  to  its  inception ;  to  that 
moment  when  it  was  "  born."  This  occurred 
at  the  moment  of  molecular  union  or  coales- 
cence of  the  nuclei  of  two  simple  cells ;  sim- 
ple, and  yet  unfathomable  with  divine  mystery, 
and  containing  the  potency  of  all  that  we  have 
been,  are,  and  shall  be. 

But  have  we  reached  here,  in  the  union  of 
two  cells,  the  origin  of  our  life  history  }  By 
no  means.  We  may  have  reached  a  point  in  it 
when  we  can  say  that  here  begins  our  identity, 
or  personality,  as  an  individual  material  organ- 
ism ;  but  we  have  not  reached  the  origin  or 
completed  the  history  of  our  life.  Back  of 
the  emhryological  stands  the  cell  life ;  and 
back  of  the  cell  life  stand  the  antecedents 
of  cell  life.  Whence  came  these  cells  }  What 
are  their  functions  ?  And  what  is  the  rela- 
tion of  one  cell  to  the  other  }  These  are  ques- 
tions of  very  great  importance.  Especially  is 
this  true  of  the  last,  for,  in  this  field,  as  in  all 
others,  "  Knowledge  is  a  perception  of  rela- 
tions." 

The  emhryological  life,  it  has  been  stated. 


24  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

owes  its  immediate  origin  to  the  union  of  two 
living  cells.  Each  of  these  cells,  however,  has 
had  a  distinct  antecedent  life  history,  and  is 
capable  of  distinct  functions.  Neither  of  them 
alone  is  capable  of  assuming  that  higher  ex- 
pression of  life  which  is  manifested  by  repro- 
duction. Either  cell,  left  to  itself,  enters  upon 
no  higher  form  or  stage  of  life.  Let  us,  at 
this  point  especially,  reverently  view  the  facts ; 
for  the  histology,  physiology,  and  functions  of 
these  cells  are  intensely  suggestive  of  divine 
relations  and  creative  power.  Science  has 
positively  determined  so  little,  especially  with 
reference  to  the  peculiar  function  of  each  of 
the  two  cells,  that  a  very  large  range  is  left  to 
mere  inference.  But  in  regard  to  the  organic 
structure  of  each  we  do  know,  approximately 
at  least,  many  things  that,  by  the  law  of  anal- 
ogy, give  more  or  less  force  to  certain  infer- 
ences or  conclusions. 

The  paternal  cell,  for  instance,  is  highly 
organized,  and  possesses  the  power  of  motion, 
and  of  locomotion  also,  to  an  extent ;  while 
the  maternal  cell  exhibits  an  organic  structure 


Of  Embryological  and  Cell  Life         25 

relatively  minor  in  degree,  and  consequently  a 
motion  less  peculiar  to  organisms  is  manifested. 
It  presents  rather  the  appearance,  or  more 
nearly  the  appearance,  of  matter  in  the  mass 
or  homogeneous  state.  The  paternal  cell  is 
active,  energetic,  and  apparently  capable  of 
acting  upon  the  maternal  cell  and  imparting 
to  it  an  impulse,  a  "mode  of  motion,"  or 
power,  that  is  inherently  foreign  to  the  latter, 
or  that  would,  at  least,  otherwise  remain  latent. 
The  maternal  cell  is,  in  many  ways,  suggestive 
of  that  phenomenon  that  is  called  inorganic 
matter ;  while  the  paternal  cell  is  equally  sug- 
gestive of  the  life-giving  principle,  called  spirit. 
In  other  words,  the  paternal  cell  seems  to 
be  the  organized,  vitalizing,  life-giving  agent 
which,  acting  upon  the  maternal  cell,  renders 
it  capable  of  the  resultant  phenomenon  of  a 
higher  form  or  expression  of  life. 

Some  of  our  scientists  state  as  their  opin- 
ion, based  upon  a  long  and  careful  investiga- 
tion, that  the  paternal  cell  is  the  differentiating 
agent ;  that  the  maternal  cell  represents  the 
conservative  element,  while  the  paternal  gives 


26  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

the  impulse  to  change,  or  differentiation.  In 
other  words,  the  principle  of  inheritance  — 
the  first  in  the  trinity  of  forces  that  stand  back 
of  and  surround  every  individual  being,  gov- 
erning and  controlling  its  destiny  —  is  vastly 
stronger  in  the  maternal  element  than  in  the 
paternal ;  while  in  the  latter  is  found  repre- 
sented the  second  force  of  the  above  trinity, 
—  the  impulse  to  differentiate,  or  the  power 
of  adaptation  to  environment,  which  is  the 
third  force  alluded  to ;  a  trinity  of  forces,  but, 
nevertheless,  a  unity. 

And  here,  between  inheritance  on  the  one 
hand  and  environment  on  the  other,  is,  surely, 
a  tremendous  demand  for  a  quality  of  force 
that,  in  its  essence  at  least,  shall  be  no  less 
than  spiritual.  If  we  regard  environment  in 
its  largest  and  deepest  significance,  as  forms 
of  spiritual  forces  ever  pressing  down  upon  us, 
then  we  may  perceive  a  plan  of  immense  prom- 
ise to  the  individual  in  the  fact  that  each  pos- 
sesses, as  a  primary  endowment,  that  which  is 
designed  to  be  responsive  to  the  touch  of  a 
universe  of  spiritual  realities  external  to  it. 


Of  Embryological  and  Cell  Life         27 

We  thus  gain  the  high  vantage  ground  of  su- 
supremacy  over  mere  animal  inheritance.  It 
is  a  divine  way  outward  and  upward  that  is 
coeval  with  the  beginning  of  the  physical 
organism. 

Whatever  the  deeper  law  of  unity  may  be 
that  runs  throughout  the  universe  of  phenom- 
ena, there  seems  to  be,  as  an  antecedent  of 
such  phenomena,  a  duality.  In  tracing  the 
history  of  all  phenomena  we  soon  come  to 
apparent  duality  —  spirit  and  matter.  And 
so  this  duality,  or  apparent  duality,  that  stands 
back  of  organized  matter  is  represented  in  the 
universe  of  organisms,  and  seems  to  stand 
back  of  the  reproduction  of  organisms. 

At  this  point  I  should  state  the  proposition 
in  this  manner  :  In  the  realm  of  causation  the 
reproduction  of  organisms  is  dependent  upon 
the  united  forces  of  the  male  and  female  ele- 
ments, in  much  the  same  manner  as  organized 
matter  is  dependent  upon  the  united  forces  of 
—  so  called  —  spirit  and  matter.  In  other 
words,  the  essential  division  of  the  universe 
of  organisms  into  male  and  female  is  in  strict 


28  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

correspondence  with  the  conception  that  posits 
spirit  and  matter  as  standing  back  of  organized 
matter,  or  of  organisms  themselves.  Thus 
we  have  here,  to  a  significant  extent,  the 
poetical  Genesis  portraiture  reproduced  in  the 
realm  of  physical  phenomena.  The  maternal 
cell  seems,  largely  at  least,  void  of  any  form 
or  suggestion  of  a  higher  order  of  life  until  it 
is  "  breathed  upon  "  —  quickened  —  by  the 
paternal  cell.  But  when  this  occurs,  a  new 
and  higher  form  or  expression  of  activity 
begins,  called  the  embryological  life. 

The  history,  therefore,  of  the  present  stage 
of  our  life  —  not  our  organism  —  can  be  traced 
back  on  a  line  of  unbroken  continuity  to  the 
commencement  of  the  embryological  stage. 
Here  it  seems  to  branch  off  into  two  distinct 
channels,  whence  it  has  descended.  But  if 
our  analogy  is  true  to  the  essential  facts  in 
the  case,  the  two  channels  are,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  of  matter,  and  on  the  other,  that  of 
life  or  spirit ;  and  it  is  in  the  latter,  the  spirit- 
ual, that  our  true  personality  is  to  be  found. 
The  life  -  principle  or  spirit  always   remains 


Of  Embryological  and  Cell  Life         29 

potentially  or  in  essence  the  same,  while  the 
forms  and  combinations  of  matter,  —  the  body, 
—  by  which  the  life-principle  expresses  itself, 
are  constantly  changing.  It  is  never,  any  two 
hours,  or  even  two  minutes,  absolutely  the 
same.  As  a  suit  of  clothes  is  to  the  body,  so 
is  the  body  to  the  individuality  or  ego  ;  and  it 
should  "  have  consideration  only  as  a  phenom- 
enon which  suits  wants."  "  Body  has  its 
proper  consideration  when  measured  simply 
as  a  tool  is  viewed."  Changing  and  change- 
able forms  of  matter  per  se  cannot  constitute 
personality.  The  "  I  Am  "  of  any  organism 
is  something  else  than  mere  matter,  at  least 
as  commonly  understood.  The  simple  ele- 
ments of  matter  that  constitute  the  organism 
come  and  go  continually,  forming  a  current  of 
atoms  through  every  part  of  our  bodies,  leav- 
ing, however,  the  individuality  untouched  and 
secure.  The  life-principle  remains  essentially 
the  same  through  all  the  varied  changes  and 
stages  of  our  life  history,  back  as  far  as  it  is 
possible  to  trace  it.  Hence,  while  the  unity 
or  individuality  of  our  present  stage  of  exist- 


30  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

ence  seemingly  emerges  from  duality,  I  hope 
to  be  able  to  add  further  evidence  later  on 
that  it  is  only  seeming,  and  that  in  reality  it 
is,  and  also  springs  from,  a  unity. 

Returning  now  to  the  two  cells  upon  the 
union  of  which  the  embryological  stage  de- 
pends, let  us  inquire  whence  they  came,  and 
what  of  their  origin  and  antecedents. 

One  thing  at  least  is  clear.  Each  of  these 
cells  has  had  a  distinct  life  history.  Each  has 
had  an  inception,  an  unfoldment,  and  a  death 
to  preceding  environments  ;  that  death  being 
its  birth  into  a  new  world  or  stage  of  exist- 
ence. The  maternal  cell,  for  instance,  was 
once  an  inhabitant  of  the  ovarian  world,  and 
was  bom  from  it  into  the  uterine  world.  The 
paternal  cell  has  also  a  similar  history.  Thus 
we  see  that  even  cell  life  is  dependent  upon 
a  pre-existing  life.  Trace  cell  life  back  as  far 
as  it  may  be  traced,  and  we  are  still  con- 
fronted by  a  pre-existing  life.  It  should  also 
be  noted  that  the  farther  it  is  traced  at  each 
step,  the  evidences  multiply  that  life  —  all  life 
—  has  its  origin  in  the   spiritual  life,  God. 


Of  Embryological  and  Cell  Life         31 

The  farther  back  we  go,  through  one  form  of 
organism  after  another,  through  each  success 
sive  grade  and  system,  we  find  life  assuming, 
to  an  ever  increasing  extent,  a  form  which 
declares  its  divine  origin  and  essence. 

In  this  connection,  however,  an  important 
fact  should  not  be  overlooked  :  The  body,  or 
organism,  which  the  life-principle  inhabits,  and 
through  which  it  manifests  itself,  is,  in  each 
successive  backward  stage,  of  a  lower  order ; 
and,  furthermore,  the  manifestations  of  life  are 
limited  by,  and  dependent  upon,  the  structure 
and  complexity  of  the  organism  with  which 
the  life-principle  has  environed  itself.  Hence 
we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  necessity  of  a  con- 
stant succession  of  births  and  deaths,  so 
called,  if  we  are  to  progress  endlessly,  or  have 
already  entered  upon  a  continuous,  progressive 
existence.  Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of 
physical  science,  to  die  —  that  is,  to  change  our 
environment,  to  outgrow  any  given  material 
world  of  limitations  —  is  as  much  a  neces- 
sity of  growth  as  to  be  born.  Death  —  a 
natural  death  —  is,  in  fact,  the  culmination,  or 


32  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

culminating  act,  of  a  given  stage  of  existence. 
It  is,  in  reality,  simply  a  new  birth ;  a  going 
forth  of  our  real  selves  from  organic  limita- 
tions, or  environments,  that  have  become  too 
restricted  and  are  no  longer  capable  of  admin- 
istering to  our  real  growth,  into  a  new  sphere, 
a  larger  world,  a  higher  and  more  complex 
form  of  material  organism,  in  which,  and 
through  which,  the  life-principle  within  may 
have  a  broader,  deeper,  and  higher  scope  and 
range  of  manifestation.  It  comes  about  as 
the  result  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  organism 
to  adapt  itself  to  the  demands  of  an  unfolding 
life.  The  same  life-principle  that  wove  into 
form  the  individual  organism,  lays  it  down 
again  when  it  has  served  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  summoned  into  existence. 

"  In  death's  unrobing  room  we  strip  from  'round  us 
The  garments  of  mortality  and  earth ; 
And,  breaking  from  the  embryo  state  that  bound  us, 
Our  day  of  dying  is  our  day  of  birth." 

This  has  been  the  course  of  the  physical  law 
of  birth  and  death  thus  far  in  our  life's  his- 
tory.    What  reason  then  have  we  to  suppose 


Of  Embryological  and  Cell  Life         33 

or  fear  that  we  have  reached  a  point  in  our 
history  when  we  are  to  pass  under  a  new  order 
or  system  of  laws  entirely  the  opposite  in 
result  ?  Natural  laws  are  not  fickle  or  change- 
able; they  are,  rather,  continuous  and  uni- 
form. 

As  in  the  past  all  the  forms  of  physical 
organization  which  our  own  life-principle  has 
evolved  for  itself  have  been  invariably  from  a 
lower  to  a  higher,  so  we  must  infer  that  this 
self-same  life-principle  is  now  engaged,  as  it 
has  always  been  engaged  throughout  the  suc- 
cessive stages  of  its  past  development,  in  evolv- 
ing an  organism  through  and  by  which  it  may 
hereafter  express  itself  more  in  harmony  with 
its  own  nature  and  essence.  In  other  words, 
our  present  physical  body  stands  in  similar 
relation  to  the  spiritual  body  to  be,  as  does  the 
placenta  to  the  embryo,  the  graafian  vesicle  to 
the  ovum,  or  the  membranes  of  this  cell  to 
its  nuclear  content.  When  the  placenta,  the 
embryological  body,  dies,  the  embryo  comes 
forth  into  this,  to  it,  new  and  strange  world 
of  experience  and  unfoldment.      When   the 


34  l^f^^  Evolution  of  Immortality 

graafian  vesicle  reaches  maturity  or  has  com- 
pleted its  work,  its  product,  the  ovum,  is  born 
into  a  new  stage  of  existence  and  environment 
in  a  manner  strikingly  analogous  to  the  birth 
of  the  embryo.  And  so,  in  accordance  with 
our  analogy,  when  this  physical  body  shall  die, 
the  spiritual  body,  its  nuclear  content,  will  go 
forth,  freed  from  the  limitations  of  its  physi- 
cal being,  into  a  new  sphere  of  greater  possi- 
bilities and  larger  scope,  carrying  with  it  the 
same  life-principle  which  it  has  inherited  from 
the  great  past,  re-enforced  and  ennobled  by  its 
legacy  of  human  experience  and  acquired  con- 
sciousness, the  priceless  result  of  this  stage 
of  our  existence. 

Let  us  now  return  to  that  point  where  it  is 
stated  that  our  identity  as  an  individual  or- 
ganism may  be  said  to  have  commenced ;  the 
molecular  union  of  the  two  parent  cells.  The 
individual  life  of  both  cells  is  merged  into  a 
single  channel,  and  a  new  form  of  life  com- 
mences, namely,  the  embryological  existence ; 
the  highest  function  of  which  is  to  evolve  a  new 
and  higher  material  organism  or  body.    The 


Of  Embryological  a7id  Cell  Life         35 

vivified  or  quickened  maternal  cell  does  this 
work  apparently  unaided  by  any  other  than  its 
own  and  its  newly  acquired  force  or  powers, 
excepting  that  of  environment,  up  to  a  certain 
time,  when  it  seeks  for  aid  —  nutrition  —  from 
without  itself.  It  first  evolves  for  itself  a 
body,  called  the  placenta,  by  the  aid  of  which 
the  growth  and  elaboration  of  an  embryological 
organization  is  carried  forward.  When  this 
work  is  completed,  or  when  a  human  body  is 
so  far  evolved  as  to  render  the  placental  world 
too  restricted,  the  body  dies  and  //,  the  embryo, 
is  brought  forth  into  this  world  of  infinitely 
larger  scope  and  possibilities,  relatively,  than 
its  former  environment. 

Here  death  and  birth  are  as  essentially  to 
to  be  found  as  anywhere,  and  the  inference  is 
plainly  apparent.  The  body  alone,  having 
served  its  purpose,  dies  ;  but  not  until  another 
and  more  highly  organized  substitute  is  pre- 
pared to  take  its  place  as  the  home  of  the  life 
or  spirit  that  is  undying  and  immortal.  The 
same  life-principle  prepares  for  itself  another 
and  higher  mode  of  expression.     It  is  a  unity 


36  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

or  continuity  of  life.  There  never  has  been, 
nor  will  there  be,  another  life  ;  it  is  the  same 
life  that  has  come  down  through  the  past, 
appears  in  this  phase  of  its  manifestation,  and 
shall  pass  on  into  other  and  higher  forms 
of  material  organization  or  objective  expres- 
sion. ' 

For  an  analogy  in  our  physical  history  we 
will  return  once  more  to  the  two  cells,  by  the 
union  of  which  ensues  the  embryological  stage 
of  our  existence.  The  organic  history  of  these 
cells,  both  paternal  and  maternal,  can  be  traced 
back  through  what  may  be  called  a  succession 
of  births  and  deaths,  or  a  bringing  forth  of 
the  life-principle  from  one  form  of  organization 
to  another.  The  ovum  or  maternal  cell  has 
an  inception,  development,  and  maturity  in  the 
graafian  vesicle  or  follicular  body.  From  this 
body,  when  mature,  it  has  a  birth  strikingly 
analogous  to  the  birth  of  the  perfected  embryo. 
The  graafian  vesicle  may  therefore  be  termed 
the  external  body,  or  formative  world,  of  the 
ovum,  the  ovum  itself  being  the  internal  body, 
or  the  seat,  or  center,  of  the  life  of  the  vesicle. 


Of  Embryological  and  Cell  Life         37 

The  graafian  vesicle  is,  in  turn,  formed,  devel- 
oped, and  matured  within  its  ovarian  environ- 
ment. But  the  life-principle  of  each  individual 
cell  precedes  all  forms  of  material  organization 
that  can  be  traced.  Back  of  each  stage  of 
organization,  or  material  expression,  stands  a 
pre-existing  organism  that  life  has  woven  into 
existence.  In  fact  the  life  of  these  cells  may 
be  traced  back  into  the  dim  distance  of  infinite 
time,  beyond  even  the  marriage,  so  to  speak, 
of  spirit  and  matter. 


Ill 

Of  Life  and  Matter 

THE  larger  object  of  this  study  being  to 
trace  the  history  of  our  own  individual 
life,  rather  than  of  the  organism,  and  to  draw 
conclusions  therefrom,  we  must  not  rest  con- 
tent with  following  it  back  to  a  point  where 
it  first  expresses  itself  in  organic  form.  We 
can,  however,  merely  glance  at  the  general 
thought  of  the  origin  and  nature  of  life. 

Were  it  possible  for  us  to  go  back  in  imag- 
ination to  the  time  when  a  "  speck  "  of  proto- 
plasm was  first  evolved  from  the  long  train  of 
antecedent  modes  of  creative  energy,  could  we 
even  then  say  that  this  is  life  ?  By  no  means. 
We  have  what  is  termed  *'  live  "  and  "  dead  " 
protoplasm.  We  have  protoplasm,  it  is  true, 
wherever  there  is  life ;  but  the  most  that  can 


Of  Life  and  Matter  39 

be  claimed  for  it  is  that  *'it  is  the  basis  of 
life  "  ;  the  form  in  which  life  is  first  manifested. 
Life  comes  to  it,  and  also  leaves  it. 

Granting  that  the  entire  phenomena  of 
worlds  and  of  the  universe,  the  expression  of 
life  in  all  forms,  are  the  natural  and  orderly 
sequence  of  matter  set  in  motion,  the  question 
of  the  origin  of  life  would  still  remain  unan- 
swered. All  that  can  be  consistently  claimed, 
in  view  of  phenomena,  is  that  it  is  an  evolu- 
tion simply,  or  unfolding,  of  that  which  had 
previously  been  subjected  to  an  infolding,  or 
involution.  Evolution  implies  an  involution. 
An  infolding  must,  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  precede  an  unfolding.  And  so,  when 
life  is  spoken  of  as  being  the  result  of  the 
evolution  of  matter,  or  of  matter  set  in  motion, 
it  would  seem  to  be  a  manifest  absurdity.  It 
would  be  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  matter 
had,  at  some  far  off  point  of  time,  been  sub- 
jected to  an  involution  of  life,  and  is  now 
engaged  in  the  consequent  process  of  evolu- 
tion. 

In  other  words,  as  the  sun,  with  its  radiancy 


40  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

of  life-giving  energies,  the  requisite  of  living 
activities  of  all  planetary  life,  is  to  this  planet 
of  ours,  so  is  Deity  to  the  whole  universe  of 
matter.  Matter  infolds,  or  involves,  the  Divine 
radiancy  and,  therefore,  evolves,  or  unfolds, 
this  stored  radiancy ;  the  manifestations  of 
which  process  we  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
calling  life.  I  said  that  something  like  this 
would  seem  to  be  nearer  the  truth  than  the 
proposition  that  life  is  a  property,  or  product, 
of  matter.  But  science  and  philosophy  do  not 
allow  us  to-day  to  rest  the  matter  here.  The 
veil  has  been  pushed  aside  so  as  to  permit  of 
a  still  deeper  and  more  reasonable  hypothesis 
relative  to  the  mysteries  of  life  and  Deity. 

We  have  traced,  or  may  trace,  our  history 
back  —  as  all  of  life's  phenomena  must  be 
traced  —  to  the  united  energies,  or  oneness 
of  God  and  Matter.  I  say  oneness  of  God 
and  matter.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood 
as  claiming  that  dualism  is  the  ultimatum  of 
this  or  any  view.  In  the  ultimate  analysis  of 
matter  nothing  will  be  found  but  Energy  ;  or, 
in  another  and  equivalent  word,  God.     This, 


Of  Life  and  Matter  41 

at  least,  is  a  reasonable  hypothesis,  based  upon 
the  scientific  investigation  and  deduction  of 
the  highest  living  authorities.  If  the  entire 
material  universe  is  now  reducible  to  about 
seventy  "  simple  elements,"  who  shall  say  that 
this  number  may  not  be  further  reduced,  even 
until  the  unit  element  is  found  ?  A  scientist 
remarked,  not  long  since,  that  "**  the  reduction 
of  all  the  chemical  elements  to  one,  is,  to-day, 
an  entirely  feasible  hypothesis."  All  of  our 
leading  scientists  will,  I  think,  agree  that  dif- 
ferent forms  of  matter  —  so  called  in  a  popular 
sense  —  are  really  but  "  modes  of  motion  "  of 
energies,  all  of  which  are  reducible  finally  to 
one  common  energy;  that  the  "elements" 
will  finally  be  found  to  be  nothing  but  "a 
mode  of  wave  motion,"  an  expression  of  Deity. 
In  other  words,  that  "the  elements  are  no 
elements  at  all,  being  simply  phenomena  aris- 
ing out  of  and  going  back  into  a  primary  or 
noumenon."  Matter  per  se  —  that  is,  matter 
separated  from,  or  independent  of,  its  proper- 
ties —  is  not  apprehensible  to  physical  sense. 
Hence  matter,  as  such,  cannot  reasonably  be 


42  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

called  a  sensible  substance.  It  is,  as  viewed 
to-day,  far  more  suggestive  of  a  unity  of  all 
being,  than  of  a  duality.  The  real  would  seem 
to  be  a  noumenon,  that  which  sub  stands  — 
stands  under  or  back  of  —  phenomena.  But 
in  speaking  of  matter  as  simply  phenomena, 
we  use  words  that  are  liable  to  be  misunder- 
stood. I  prefer  to  use  the  word  Oneness, 
rather  than  any  term  that  might  imply  that 
matter  and  Deity  are  distinct  entities,  one 
over  against  the  other.  The  union  or  oneness 
is  so  complete  that,  if  we  say  matter  is  God's 
organic  body,  or  the  form  inhabited  by  Him, 
through  and  by  which  he  manifests  Himself, 
we  should  very  nearly  state  the  truth.  The 
same  idea  may,  however,  be  stated  as  follows  : 
The  universe  of  matter  may  be  said  to  be  God, 
if  we  remember  that  the  Universe  per  se  is  an 
Infinite  Organism,  having  an  Ego,  and  that 
the  ego  is  the  real  of  any  organism  ;  the  thing 
itself  behind  phenomena. 

The  scientist,  when  looking  with  analytical 
eyes  at  any  form  or  combination  of  matter,  be 


Of  Life  and  Matter  43 

it  a  drop  of  water  or  an  ocean,  one  of  the  con- 
stituents of  air  or  the  whole  atmosphere  that 
envelops  him,  a  grain  of  sand  or  a  mountain, 
an  atom  or  wavelet  of  ether,  or  a  star  that 
floats  upon  the  bosom  of  a  boundless  etheric 
sea,  an  asteroid  or  a  universe  of  planets,  sees, 
as  the  result  of  his  analysis, "  motion,"  motion 
of  different  kinds,  degrees, "  modes  "  ;  but  all, 
all,  quivering,  pulsating,  vibrating  in  answer 
to  an  adequate  touch.  Where  motion  is  found 
there  must  be  will  behind  it ;  where  will  is, 
there  also  intelligence  is.  And  so  there  must 
be  behind,  or  in,  this  universe  of  infinite 
motion  an  Infinite  Will,  an  Infinite  Intelli- 
gence, an  Infinite  Life,  that  by  and  through 
this  infinite  phenomenon  of  motion  —  life  — 
is  expressing  an  Infinite  Thought.  The  uni- 
verse of  matter  then  is,  to  us,  a  materializa- 
tion of  a  thought  of  God. 

If  the  scientist,  awed  by  the  immensity  of 
his  vision,  calls  the  primal  source  of  this  won- 
derful manifestation  an  Infinite  Energy,  this 
is  so  because  of   his  special  education.      If 


44  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

another,  considering  the  same  phenonenon, 
traces  it  to  the  same  source  and,  in  an  ecstasy 
of  soul,  exclaims  :  Behold  an  Infinite  God ! 
will  the  wise  man  intercept  the  current  of 
uplifting  and  ennobling  emotions  in  each  by 
raising  the  insignificant  question  of  terms  to 
be  made  use  of  in  the  attempt  to  give  expres- 
sion to  that  which  is  simply  inexpressible? 
If,  as  Goethe  says, 

"'Tis  feeling  all," 

then  let  the  dogmatists  enshroud  it  in  such 
"cloud  and  smoke"  as  mere  names  imply. 
The  vibrating  feeling  in  the  finite  is  the 
measure  of  his  response  to  the  motion  of 
Infinitude  itself. 

Let  us  recall  attention,  at  this  point,  to 
certain  phenomena  that  relate  to  the  embryo- 
logical  period,  commencing  with  the  molecular 
union  or  vivification  of  the  maternal  cell. 
Living,  if  we  may  so  term  it,  for  a  time  upon 
the  material  resources  of  itself,  a  segmenta- 
tion of  cells  takes  place.     Thus  growth  or 


Of  Life  and  Matter  45 

development  occurs,  and  the  time  arrives  when 
external  resources  are  necessary  for  the  pur- 
poses of  nutrition  and  support  of  its  work. 
The  supply  is  at  hand,  and  is  found  in  the 
environing  mother  membrane,  with  which  a 
vital  attachment  is  formed.  Thus  the  embryo 
gains  such  material  substances  as  are  required 
to  complete  and  perfect  the  material  human 
organism  or  body.  No  mother,  therefore,  is, 
in  reality,  so  entirely  a  mother,  in  a  strictly 
exact  sense,  as  is  popularly  supposed.  She 
receives  a  life  and,  for  a  time,  nourishes  it, 
modifies  it  somewhat,  and,  when  it  comes  into 
this  world,  environs  it  with  her  care,  love, 
training,  and  so  forth,  then  gives  it  back  to 
itself  and  its  author  again,  her  work  being 
done.  Its  real  father,  we  may  say  in  an  essen- 
tial sense,  is  God  ;  while  its  real  mother  is,  in 
a  relative  sense,  Nature.  Human  parentage, 
then,  is  merely  a  channel  through  which  for 
a  time  an  individual  life  courses  its  way.  Its 
lineage  must  inevitably  be  traced  back  to  the 
mysterious  but  absolute  unity  or  oneness  of 
God  and  matter. 


46  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

"Art  Thou  the  Life ? 
To  Thee,  then,  do  I  owe  each  beat  and  breath, 
And  wait  Thy  ordering  of  my  hour  of  death 
In  peace  or  strife." 

There  is  a  more  or  less  vivid  recognition  of 
this  fact  in  the  soul  of  every  man  and  woman. 
From,  the  deeper  consciousness  of  every  one 
there  sooner  or  later  arises  a  sense  of  sonship 
to  God.  We  come  to  see  and  feel,  in  early 
life  or  later  on,  that  human  parentage  is  merely 
an  instrument.  That  "my  Father"  means 
nothing  less  than  God,  and  that  "  Mother  "  is 
really  another  word  for  Nature.  This  con- 
sciousness of  ours  is,  therefore,  in  perfect  har- 
mony with  the  theory  that  traces  life  back  to 
Deity,  while  the  organism  is  referred  to  Nature 
or  matter.  This,  however,  does  not  necessarily 
imply  a  duality  of  origin,  nor  a  dual  individual 
nature,  as  may  be  apprehended  by  carefully 
studying  matter  itself,  in  the  light  of  the 
scientific  philosophy  of  to-day. 

Thus  viewed,  matter  is  seen  to  be  purely 
phenomenal,  arising  out  of  and  resolvable  into 


Of  Life  and  Matter  47 

a  primary  universal  energy.  And  so  man's 
present  physical  nature  is  transient,  phenom- 
enal, unreal.  The  only  real,  the  essence  of 
being,  is  the  spiritual.  The  spiritual  sub- 
stands  the  physical,  and  finally  eventuates 
itself  as  the  ego,  or  soul,  of  the  physical. 
From  this  point  on  through  this  stage  of 
man's  existence  he  has  relations  in  a  sense 
dualistic  in  condition :  physical  needs  and 
spiritual  needs.  But  in  a  larger  sense  there 
is  even  here  no  duality,  but  a  unity. 

"  All  good  things 
Are  ours,  nior  soul  helps  flesh  more,  now,  than  flesh  helps 
soul." 


IV 

Of  Analogies 

-^ 

IT  is  stated  in  Chapter  II  that  the  highest 
function  of  the  embryonic  stage  of  our 
being  is  to  evolve  a  newer  and  higher  material 
organism  or  body,  which  should  better  express 
the  unfolding  life  -  principle,  the  history  of 
which  we  have  endeavored  to  very  briefly 
trace.  If  this  be  true,  may  we  not,  with  con- 
siderable logical  confidence,  assume  that  the 
highest  physical  function  of  this  stage  of  our 
existence  is  to  evolve  a  still  higher  and  more 
complex  organism  or  body,  in  which  and 
through  which  the  divine  spirit  or  life  —  our 
real  personality  —  may  become  endowed  with 
the  possibilities  of  a  higher,  broader,  and 
deeper  expression  of  its  own  nature  and  in- 
herent essence  ?     Let  us  see  what  data  there 


Of  Analogies  49 

may  be  in  our  past  history  and  present  condition 
or  state  to  warrant  such  an  assumption. 

Attention  is  first  called  to  an  histological 
and  physiological  analogy.  All  cells  present 
an  external  and  an  internal  body  ;  an  external 
membranous  body  and  an  internal  nuclear 
body.  The  graafian  follicle  has  a  nucleus 
which,  being  evolved,  and  after  it  reaches  a 
state  independent  of  its  follicular  body,  we 
call  an  ovum.  This,  in  turn,  is  found  to  pos- 
sess an  external  and  internal  distinction  or 
body.  Being  vitalized,  or  quickened,  by  the 
paternal  life,  its  membranous,  or  external 
body,  develops  along  certain  lines,  indicating 
a  temporal  existence,  —  placental,  —  while  the 
germ-center  or  nuclear  body  develops  into  a 
state  or  form  denominated  a  human  embryo. 
The  placental  body  dying,  it,  the  embryo,  is 
born  into  this  stage  of  our  existence,  still 
being  —  according  to  the  latest  histological 
researches  —  a  vaster  cell,  or  a  vitally  con- 
nected unity  of  cells.  This  being  so,  is  it  not 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  our  present  external 
bodies  possess  analogous  nuclear  bodies  which. 


50  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

in  turn,  shall  also  evolve  into  forms  suitable  for 
external  bodies  as  we  pass  on  one  step  more  ? 

This  is  my  analogy,  and  I  am  desirous  that 
it  be  clearly  understood.  I  will  partially  re- 
peat it.  The  graafian  cell  has  a  membranous 
external  body  and  a  nuclear  inner  body.  The 
inner  or  nuclear  body  develops  and  is  finally 
born  from  its  internal  environment  —  the 
graafian  cell  —  into  an  existence  independent 
of  it.  It  is  now  called  an  ovum,  and  the 
follicular  body  which  constituted  its  former 
external  body  dies  and  becomes  entirely  dis- 
organized, the  life-principle  having  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  ovum.  The  ovum,  also,  passes 
through  almost  identically  the  same  or  an 
analogous  process  of  development  in  its  or- 
ganic evolution.  Its  nuclear  or  inner  body 
develops  into  an  embryo,  and  leaves,  finally, 
its  external  body,  the  placenta,  and  comes 
forth  into  a  new  environment,  this  world  of 
ours  in  which  we  now  live.  Now,  unless 
the  laws  of  organic  evolution  cease  to  apply 
further,  this  external  body  of  ours  has  an 
inner  or  nuclear  body  which  is  being,  at  this 


Of  Analogies  5 1 

moment,  developed,  and  will  ultimately  pass 
out  of  this  external  body  which  we  see  and 
know  so  well,  into  an  existence  as  independent 
of  it  as  we  to-day  are  independent  of  our 
former  placental  bodies.  There  would  seem 
to  be  left  us  but  one  of  two  inevitable  conclu- 
sions :  Either  we  pass  on  to  a  higher  stage  of 
organic  evolution,  independent  of  the  present 
physical  state,  or  the  uniformity  and  continuity 
of  Nature's  laws  no  longer  have  application  and 
relation  to  us  as  individuals.  Either  we  con- 
tinue to  live,  or  God's  laws  are  mutable. 

If  evolution,  as  some  have  claimed,  relates 
simply  to  the  perpetuation  and  gradual  im- 
provement of  the  race,  ignoring  the  individ- 
ual ;  if,  as  the  result  of  the  infinite  past  which 
relates  to  the  physical  development  of  man, 
there  is  to  be  no  spiritual  consummation, 
then  "nothing  but  the  Infinite  pity  is  suffi- 
cient for  the  infinite  pathos  of  human  life." 

The  prophetic  eye  of  Emerson  saw  "  the 
Universe  represented  in  an  Atom,  in  a  mo- 
ment of  time."  We,  assuredly,  in  the  light 
of  scientific  philosophy,  ought  to  be  able  to 


52  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

see  the  race  represented  in  the  individual. 
And  if  the  same  laws  that  relate  to  the  uni- 
verse relate  also  with  equal  force  to  the  atom, 
we  must  conclude  that  the  operation  of  those 
laws  which  result  in  the  evolution  of  the  race 
applies  as  well  to  the  units  that  compose  the 
race.  It  is  now  generally  conceded  that  evo- 
lution has  reached  the  acme  of  physical  devel- 
opment ;  that,  in  the  very  nature  of  things, 
evolution,  so  far  as  man  is  concerned,  must 
hereafter  proceed  along  the  lines  of  mental 
and  spiritual  growth.  This  is,  therefore,  an 
age  when  not  only  the  grandest  and  most  far- 
reaching  thought  and  effort  of  man,  but  the 
inherent  forces  of  Nature  as  well,  seem  cen- 
tered upon  the  problems  of  education  and  of 
character  building;  of,  in  other  words,  im- 
pressing upon  and  embodying  in  the  individual 
a  conception  of  the  phenomenality  of  the 
physical  and  the  reality  of  the  spiritual. 

Man  to-day,  as  never  before,  is  endeavoring 
to  work  in  harmony  with  the  forces  of  Nature 
which  "  make  for  Righteousness  " ;  and  this 
is  secured  for  the  race  only  as  secured  by  and 


Of  Analogies  5  3 

for  the  individual.  The  individual  is,  there- 
fore, the  one  essential  fact  and  concern.  "  It 
takes  all  mankind  to  make  a  man,  and  each 
man  when  he  dies  takes  a  whole  earth  away 
with  him."  "  It  is  to  the  honor  of  human 
nature,  and  what  can  be  said  of  no  other 
creature,  that  the  best  fruits  of  all  together 
suffice  for  no  more  than  to  make  each  one 
what  he  may  be."  Once  apprehend  the  fact, 
so  prominently  dawning  upon  the  mind  of 
the  world  to-day,  that  the  spiritual  is  the  only 
real  substance  in  the  universe ;  that  all  phe- 
nomena must  be  accounted  for  upon  a  spirit- 
ual basis ;  that  the  spiritual  nature  of  man  is, 
therefore,  potential  in,  and  emerges  from,  the 
physical ;  that  he  is  here  undergoing  a  process 
of  education  and  development  —  not  "  proba- 
tion and  trial"  —  subject  to  the  directing 
agency  of  a  measureless  and  beneficent  spirit- 
ual environment ;  that  Love,  the  very  heart 
of  Deity,  holds  him  in  a  grasp  as  strong  as 
the  immeasurable  sweep  of  gravitation,  "  the 
very  muscle  of  Omnipotence"  —  a  spiritual 
force,   before   the   operation   of   which    "  no 


54  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

slightest  rustle  is  stirred  amid  the  quiet  air  "  ; 
that  as  the  result  of  this  environment  the 
spiritual  nature  of  man  is  awakened  and, 
finally,  learns  to  express  itself  in  those  qual- 
ities of  being  that  are  termed  "  Godlike," 
"spiritual,"  and  so  forth,  more  apparent  in 
some  than  others,  but  most  common  with 
those  men  and  women  who  have  established 
the  most  intimate  connection  with  this  real, 
subtle,  spiritual  environment  —  when  all  of 
these  things  are  apprehended,  the  real  sig- 
nificance of  life,  our  own  personal  individ- 
ual lives,  will  be  better  understood,  and  the 
clearer  will  appear  the  reasonableness  of  the 
faith  which  holds  that,  apart  from  an  immor- 
tality, life  has  no  divine  meaning. 

We  see  thus  something  of  the  possibilities 
that  open  before  the  vision  of  our  souls.  We 
have  become  self-conscious  beings,  and  con- 
sequently immortal.  The  amount  of  immor- 
tality that  we  shall  possess  depends  upon  our 
self  -  determining  power.  Immortality  need 
not  be,  is  not,  a  question  of  time  or  place. 
It  is  measured  rather  by  the  terms  of  quan- 


Of  Analogies  55 

tity  and  quality,  and  is  to  be  in  us  if  any- 
where. In  each  individual  man  an  immor- 
tality is  inherent.  It  was  germal  at  the  most 
distant  point  of  his  physical  history.  It  came 
to  birth  at  the  moment  of  self -consciousness. 
He  is  environed  by  an  infinite  immortality, 
and  can  lay  hold,  here  and  now,  upon  all  that 
he  will.  "  With  man  is  power  to  make  the 
kind  of  a  world  in  which  he  elects  to  live." 
While  content  with  the  physical  he  necessarily 
lives  in  the  basement  of  being.  But  there  is 
sunshine  and  a  purer  atmosphere  above  him  ; 
and,  within  him,  however  latent  it  may  be, 
there  is  that  which  cannot  permanently  rest 
satisfied  with  the  darkness  and  pestilential 
damps  of  a  mere  sense  existence. 

Besides  the  power  of  this  environment  to 
drive  him  into  the  "  upper  stories,"  there  comes 
also  the  compelling  influence  of  a  great  com- 
pany of  emerged  souls  who,  having  tasted  of  the 
founts  of  a  higher  life,  are  impelled  thereby  to 
go  down  into  the  highways  and  byways  and 
compel  those  therein  to  move  on  and  upward. 

Life  is  manifested  by  and  through  trans- 


56  The  Evolutiort  of  Immortality 

formation,  and  the  transforming  process  we 
mistakenly  call  death ;  it  is  really  the  con- 
dition of  an  evolving  life.  Look  at  Nature 
all  around  and  see  if  this  be  not  so.  As 
with  the  contained  germ  of  an  acorn  which, 
properly  conditioned,  draws  to  itself  and  se- 
lects that  which  it  requires  for  its  growth, 
and  in  so  doing  breaks  through  and  casts 
off  its  former  sheath  or  body,  so  the  char- 
acter of  man  and,  consequently,  the  nature 
of  his  immortality,  is  determined  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  rejection  and  selection,  by  the  ar- 
rest and  fixation,  the  crystallization  and  con- 
version to  use  of  those  more  than  ethereal 
currents  of  inspiration,  aspiration,  sentiment, 
idealism,  which  so  powerfully  yet  tenderly 
appeal  to  us,  "  woo  and  court  us  from  every 
object  in  Nature,  from  every  fact  in  life,  from 
every  thought  of  the  mind,"  from  every  in- 
tuition of  the  soul.  We  must  select  and 
appropriate,  like  the  oak,  from  the  earth  be- 
neath us  and  from  the  upper  air  of  the  invis- 
ible and  immaterial  influences  that  emanate 
from   the   all  -  pervading  and   all  -  environing 


Of  Analogies  57 

"  Over-Soul."  "  The  only  way  into  Nature 
is  to  enact  our  best  insight."  In  doing  this, 
"  instantly  we  are  higher  poets,  and  can  speak 
a  deeper  law."  And  thus  also  we  are  con- 
stantly being  transformed  from  a  lower  to  a 
higher  life ;  from  a  material  to  a  spiritual 
plane.  In  dying  as  to  the  physical  and  being 
bom  spiritually  is  found  the  nearest  complete 
solution  of  the  problem  of  life  as  we  know  it 
here  and  now. 

He  who  has  lived  the  most ;  who  has  gone 
down  the  deepest  and  risen  the  highest  in  the 
range  of  human  possibilities,  will  be  the  last 
to  deny  this  assertion.  Is  it,  then,  within  the 
range  of  reason  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that 
an  Infinite  Intelligence  could  plan  and  purpose 
from  the  beginning  to  cut  off  the  subjects  of 
his  creation,  and  doom  them  to  an  extinction, 
at  the  point  when  a  clarified  consciousness  of 
their  being  is  just  awakened  t  "  It  is,"  says 
one,  "related  of  an  Arab  chief,  whose  laws 
forbade  the  rearing  of  his  female  offspring, 
that  the  only  tears  he  ever  shed  were  when 
his  daughter  brushed  the  dust  from  his  beard 

OF  THE     ^ 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 

^'FORWy 


58  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

as  he  buried  her  in  a  living  grave.  But  where 
are  the  tears  of  God  as  he  thrusts  back  into 
eternal  stillness  the  hands  that  are  stretched 
out  to  him  in  dying  faith  ?  If  death  ends  life, 
what  is  this  world  but  an  ever-yawning  grave 
in  which  the  loving  God  buries  his  children 
with  hopeless  sorrow  ? "  Whatever  may  be 
said  of  the  "inexorable  logic  of  Love,"  in 
reference  to  an  individual  immortality,  any 
human  being  who  has  arrived  at  that  stage  of 
his  unfoldment  denominated  self  -  conscious- 
ness— "spirit  birth" — and  knows  something 
of  the  depth  of  meaning  that  is  involved  in 
the  term,  may,  tipon  the  moral  basis  of  the 
inexorable  logic  of  justice ,  demand  an  immor- 
tality. A  human  father  is  justly  held  account- 
able to  his  children  regarding  their  physical 
wants.  Is  the  All  Father  any  less  morally 
bound  to  meet  and  satisfy  the  spiritual  hunger 
of  his  children,  that  spiritual  hunger  being  the 
acme  and  fruition  of  all  their  past  history  t 

By  the  logic  of  Love,  by  the  logic  of 
Justice,  every  self-conscious  being  must  be 
given  an  opportunity  to  realize  the  possibili- 


Of  Analogies  59 

ties  of  his  nature,  to  satisfy  those  spiritual 
aspirations  and  ideals  which,  independent  of 
personal  volition,  well  up  from  his  own  inner 
being ;  a  consummation  which  every  one  knows 
demands  an  existence  not  vouchsafed  in  the 
physical  stage  of  our  being. 

But  this  conclusion  may  find  a  sufficient 
basis  upon  a  lower  plane  :  that  of  "  a  supreme 
act  of  faith  in  the  reasonableness  of  God's 
work."  If  God's  work  be  reasonable,  man 
must  be  immortal.  To  our  faith  we  may  also 
add  the  authority  of  science,  if  we  adopt 
Professor  Huxley's  definition  of  science.  He 
says  :  "To  my  mind,  whatever  doctrine  pro- 
fesses to  be  the  result  of  the  application  of 
the  accepted  rules  of  inductive  and  deductive 
logic  to  its  subject  matter,  and  accepts,  within 
the  limits  which  it  sets  to  itself,  the  suprem- 
acy of  reason,  is  science."  Professor  Du  Bois, 
with  a  still  deeper  insight,  asks :  "  May  we 
not  define  all  science  as  the  verification  of 
the  ideal  in  Nature } "  Can  Nature  have  any 
reasonable  meaning  independent  of  a  spiritual 
consummation  ? 


V 

Of  Law  as  Manifested  in  Organic 
Evolution 


A  FURTHER  argument  in  favor  of  the 
assumption  stated  at  the  outset  of  Chap- 
ter IV  is  based  upon  the  uniformity  and  con- 
tinuity of  law,  —  as  manifested  not  only  in 
organic  evolution,  but  in  our  own  experiences 
in  a  mental  or  psychological  sense.  This  is 
but  the  expression  of,  or  name  we  give  to, 
another  and  higher  law  that  stands  behind 
and  above  the  more  readily  observed  of 
Nature's  laws. 

Let  us  apply  this  law  to  that  made  manifest 
in  organic  evolution,  as  it  is  expressed  in  our 
own  life  history  in  its  various  phases. 

Organic  evolution  exhibits  the  phenomenon 
of  unity  as  the  result  of  the  process  or  career 


Of  Law  in  Organic  Evolution         6 1 

of  Nature's  laws.  In  all  organisms,  primal 
as  well  as  ultimate,  we  find  that  the  unit  con- 
sists of  aggregations  of  individuals.  The  unit 
cell  is  composed  of  molecules ;  the  molecules 
of  atoms,  and  so  forth.  The  higher  and  more 
complex  organisms  consist  of  an  aggregation 
of  cells,  and  thus  on  until  man  is  reached,  who, 
in  an  organic  or  physical  sense,  is  simply  an 
aggregation  of  cells,  vitally  connected,  and  com- 
posing, in  this  aggregation  of  units,  a  new  and 
higher  unit  or  individual.  And  here,  in  man,  we 
have  the  organic  ultimatum  of  that  of  which  the 
unit  cell  is  the  prototype  or  original  model. 

An  aggregation  does  not  destroy  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  unit  presence.  In  a  block  of 
brick  houses,  for  instance,  the  individuality  of 
each  separate  brick  is  not  destroyed  by  the 
aggregation  or  association  which  constitutes 
a  new  individuality  —  a  block  of  houses.  A 
unit  brick  is  not  a  unit  block ;  and  a  unit 
block  is  more  than  a  unit  brick.  But  the 
larger  unit  does  not  destroy  the  smaller  unit. 
Again,  an  aggregation  of  blocks  may  consti- 
tute another  unit  of  a  still  superior  kind  —  a 


62  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

city ;  but  the  individuality  of  blocks,  and  of 
bricks,  is  in  no-wise  interfered  with.  Each 
unit  or  individuality  serves  its  purpose  and 
performs  its  proper  function.  And  so  the 
unity  and  individuality  of  each  cell  in  man  is 
maintained.  Each  cell  possesses  a  function, 
an  intelligence,  a  sense  of  need  and  a  sense  of 
satisfaction,  peculiar  to  itself.  Their  mutual 
affinity,  however,  results  in  co-operative  asso- 
ciation, and  this  co-operative  association  re- 
sults in,  or  composes,  a  higher  and  more 
complex  organism  as  individual  in  its  char- 
acter as  the  individuality  of  each  single  unit 
cell.  Complexity  of  physical  form  leads  to 
a  higher  manifestation  of  life,  —  intelligence, 
—  intellectual  modes,  —  psychic  life.  So  that 
the  essential  difference  between  a  monad 
and  a  man  may  be  accounted  for  upon  the 
basis  of  the  difference  in  the  complexity 
of  the  organic  structure  of  each.  Wherever 
there  is  organism  there  exists  intelligence ; 
and  the  higher  and  more  complex  the  organ- 
ism the  greater  is  the  intelligence  —  or  mode 
of  psychic  motion  —  manifested. 


Of  Law  in  Organic  Evolution         63 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  is  a  gen- 
eral law  of  Nature.  Whence,  then,  the  reason- 
ableness of  the  supposition  that  this  law  of 
organic  evolution  goes  no  farther  in  the  as- 
cending scale  of  our  being?  A  given  form 
and  combination  of  matter  (speaking  in  the 
gross  sense)  is  canceled  —  dies  —  but  no 
matter  and  no  energy  is  lost.  Physical  sci- 
ence teaches  this,  if  it  teaches  anything. 
Both  are  simply  transferred;  and  the  trans- 
ference of  either,  as  we  have  seen  in  em- 
bryology, does  not  affect  the  personality  or 
individuality  of  our  real  being,  except  as  evo- 
lution or  growth  affects  it.  The  line  of  con- 
tininty  of  being  is  not  interfered  with,  or 
destroyed. 

A  continued  life  implies,  in  the  very  nature 
of  things,  growth ;  growth  in  intelligence, 
growth  in  the  power  of  apprehension,  of  the 
possibility  of  enjoyment  and  suffering  ;  growth 
of  insight,  growth  of  outsight  ;  growth  of 
mind,  growth  of  soul,  growth  of  spirit.  If  all 
of  this  is  a  calamity,  then,  in  the  light  of 
organic  evolution,  we  are  doomed  to  suffer  it. 


64  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

But  there  is  here  implied  a  continual  dying, 
so  called;  a  continual,  incessant  changing, 
every  day  and  every  hour  of  our  existence. 
The  only  constant  known  to  science  is  per- 
petual change. 

"  Who  thinks  aught  can  begin  to  be  which  formerly  was 

not, 
Or  that  aught  which  is  can  perish  and  utterly  decay  ? 
Another  truth  I  now  unfold ;  no  natural  birth 
Is  there  of  mortal  things,  nor  death's  destruction  final ; 
Nothing  is  there  but  a  mingling,  and  then  a  separation  of 

the  mingled, 
Which  are  called  a  birth  and  a  death  by  ignorant  mortals." 

Has  it  not  always  been  so .?  Does  not  our 
conscious  experience  accord  with  this  law  ? 
We  all  have  had  an  existence  in  the  embryo- 
logical  stage,  and  have  died  to  it,  and  been 
born  from  it  into  an  infantile  world.  As 
infants  we  have  died,  and  have  been  born  into 
the  world  of  childhood.  We  have  died  as 
children  and  been  born  as  youth.  To  the 
youthful  stage  we  have  died,  and  most  of  us 
find  ourselves  at  present  in  that  changeful 
period  of  our  existence  denominated  mature 
physical  Uf e ;  while  some  are  passing  on  into 


Of  Law  in  Organic  Evolution         65 

that  stage  called  the  evening  of  human  exist- 
ence. Birth  and  death,  or  "  a  mingling,  then 
a  separation  of  the  mingled,"  surely  marks 
our  entire  conscious  course  from  the  begin- 
ning. Some  of  us,  who  are  parents,  have 
lost,  irrevocably  lost,  our  infants,  our  children, 
our  youth  and,  it  may  be,  our  young  men  and 
maidens.  The  Jameses  and  Janes,  the  Johns 
and  Marys,  as  we  call  them  still,  are  not  what 
they  were.  Neither  are  they  to-day  what  they 
will  be  to-morrow,  next  year,  ten  years  hence. 
Still  we  call  them  our  children  ;  or,  in  a  deeper 
sense,  ours.  We  scarcely  notice  that  they 
are  constantly  dying,  day  by  day,  and,  also, 
that  they  are  as  constantly  being  born  again. 
We  are  parents  —  not  of  stationary,  mechan- 
ical existences,  but  of  processes  of  being; 
parents  —  not  of  a  single  stage  of  existence, 
but  of  potentialities,  and  of  potentialities  that 
are  constantly  realizing,  step  by  step,  the  un- 
ending possibilities  of  being. 

The  same  law  also  applies  with  reference 
to  parents,  friends,  and  all  with  whom  we 
associate.     Being  absent  from  them,  we  carry 


66  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

their  images  in  our  memories.  But  in  order 
to  be  convinced  that  our  mental  processes, 
called  memories,  are  illusive  and  do  not  rep- 
resent the  real,  we  need  only  to  meet  them 
again  after  a  separation  of  a  few  years.  Our 
fond  imagery  is  shattered  by  a  mere  glimpse 
of  the  actual.  Between  the  then  and  the 
now,  our  friend,  our  parent,  who  was,  is  not, 
and  with  him  who  is  we  must  form  a  new 
acquaintance,  much  as  if  we  had  never  before 
met.  They  are  not  what  they  were.  We 
are  not  as  we  were.  They  and  we  are  of 
what  we  were.  The  line  of  continuity  is  not 
broken ;  it  is  simply  extended,  developed. 
The  individuality  is  not  lost,  but,  rather,  has 
taken  on  larger  proportions,  become  more 
individualized. 

So  all  of  us  can  look  back  upon  an  experi- 
ence of  a  continual  dying  and  a  continual 
becoming.  "  The  world  of  phenomena  "  — 
ourselves  included  — "  is  a  flowing  river,  ever 
changing,  yet  ever  the  same."  This  is  a 
matter  of  personal  consciousness,  or  of  self- 
knowledge,  and  it  is  in  harmony  with  that 


Of  Law  in  Organic  Evolution         67 

part  of  our  history  which  antedates  our  mem- 
ory, as  revealed  by  science. 

Shall  it  continue  in  harmony  with  its  past 
and  present,  or  has  it  reached  its  last  stage 
of  development,  and  must  it  soon  cease  to  be  ? 
In  the  light  of  the  continuity  and  uniformity 
of  Nature's  laws,  we  cannot  believe  it  shall 
cease.  Professor  Huxley  states  that  "the 
key  of  the  past,  as  of  the  future,  is  to  be 
sought  in  the  present."  If  this  be  true,  and 
we  find  that  the  one  prominent  feature  of  our 
past,  as  well  as  of  our  present,  is  a  continued 
unfoldment  of  an  inherent  germal  individu- 
ality, we  have  at  least  a  strong  argument  in 
favor  of  the  hypothesis  that  our  future  is  not 
to  be  retrogressive.  Our  individual  river  of 
life  came  from  the  eternal  beyond,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  is  passing  on  to  the  eternal  beyond, 
on  the  other.  It  flows  to-day;  it  did  flow 
yesterday.  Shall  it  not  flow  to-morrow  and 
evermore?  We  can  judge  only  by  analogy 
and  by  law ;  fixed,  immutable  law. 

This,  however,  we  know :  A  law  gave  it 
inception.     A  law  gave  it  the  power  of  flow- 


6S  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

ing.  A  law  channeled  it.  A  law,  or  laws, 
shaped  and  modified  its  career,  making  it  what 
it  is  to-day.  As  the  result  of  law  we  are 
floating  upon  its  bosom.  Give  this  fact  deep 
thought.  It  is  significant.  We  are  floating 
on,  moving  down  our  own  personal  life-stream 
at  the  regnant  behest  of  laws  which  are  God's 
own  expression  of  himself  to  the  universe  of 
mankind.  Does  not  analogy,  does  not  an 
intelligent  conception  of  law,  of  God  himself, 
declare  that  we  must,  that  we  shall,  continue 
to  move  on,  being  borne  forward  on  this 
current  of  life  which  constitutes  our  own 
personal  stream  or  line  of  continuity,  over 
which  we  have  little  power  to  change  the 
general  course,  which  no  power  of  ours  can 
stop,  and  to  which  we  can  successfully  op- 
pose no  barrier.? 

Yes,  in  organic  evolution  we  discover  a  law, 
or  parallel  laws,  that  may,  and  apparently  do, 
pass  over  from  the  material  into  the  imma- 
terial. Before  physical  birth,  the  activities  of 
life  appear  in  the  processes  of  perfecting  the 
structure    and    completing   the   harmony   of 


Of  Law  in  Organic  Evolution         69 

function.  Consciousness  and  volition  lie  dor- 
mant, or  in  an  unawakened  slumber.  The 
spiritual  nature  is,  as  yet,  simply  germal.  But 
at  birth  new  forces  are  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  latent  potentialities,  and  a  connection  is 
established  between  the  child  and  spiritual  en- 
vironments —  the  first  being  that  of  parental 
love  —  which  are  as  immeasurable  as  the  very 
heart  of  God.  Heretofore,  physical  laws  have 
held  universal  sway ;  but  now,  spiritual  laws 
step  in  and  contest  the  field  with  the  physical, 
asserting  an  ever  increasing  claim  upon  the 
work  of  future  development.  Self-conscious- 
ness is  evolved,  together  with  a  knowledge  of 
other  beings  of  like  nature  around  us,  and 
of  a  Supreme  Being  over  all.  In  short,  the 
spiritual  nature  is  awakened  —  born  —  and 
man  is  a  new  creature.  He  is  no  longer  a 
physical  being  simply,  controlled  by  physical 
laws  and  subject  to  a  mere  physical  end.  A 
spiritual  nature  has  emerged  from  the  phys- 
ical, and  now  becomes  the  center  and  focal 
point  of  forces  that  are  to  constitute  an  ever 
increasing  control  over  the  unfoldment  and 


70  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

destiny  of  the  individual.  It  is  an  evolution, 
not  a  new  creation.  The  dividing  line  be- 
tween the  physical  and  the  spiritual  can  no 
more  be  definitely  drawn  than  can  the  exact 
division  between  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms,  between  the  "  organic  and  inor- 
ganic worlds."  The  physical  merges  into  the 
spiritual  in  a  manner  similar  to  the  mergence 
of  childhood  into  the  youthful  stage,  or  of 
youthhood  into  manhood.  The  various  stages 
of  our  being,  from  its  inception  to  the  pres- 
ent, and  from  the  present  onward,  come  about 
as  the  result  of  the  ordinary  working  of  laws 
that  have  been  constant  in  all  the  past  history 
of  the  world,  and  that  cannot  by  any  analogy 
or  principle  be  for  a  moment  supposed  to 
cease  to  act  as  we  pass  on  or  out  of  this  stage 
of  our  existence  to  that  of  future  stages. 


VI 

Of  the  Fundamental  Spiritual  Identity 

Between  Man  and  God  in  Point 

of  Essential  Nature 

THE  foregoing  assumption,  namely,  that 
the  highest  physical  function  of  this 
stage  of  our  existence  is  to  evolve  a  still 
higher  and  more  complex  material  organism, 
—  a  spiritual  body,  —  is  further  based  upon 
the  utter  impossibility  of  conceiving  how  mind 
can  have  any  existence  independent  of  matter, 
so  called,  in  some  form ;  how  consciousness 
can  be  without  organs  of  sense,  how  organs 
of  sense  are  possible  separated  from  an  organ- 
ism ;  how  an  organism  can  have  any  being, 
however  simple  or  complex,  independent  of 
something  to  organize.  We  may  as  well 
attempt  to  conceive  of  the  existence  of  God 


72  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

independent  of  creative  activities  —  that  is, 
independent  of  matter  in  some  of  its  infinite 
variety  of  forms ;  or  of  intelligence  without 
thought,  as  to  conceive  of  life  separate  from 
some  form  of  expression.  The  very  term  itself 
implies  activity,  creative  energy  ;  and  "  life  as 
manifested  in  the  organism  is  seen  to  be  only 
a  specialized  form  of  the  Universal  Life." 

Therefore,  taking  as  our  starting-point  the 
premise  that  life  —  our  own  life  —  had  its 
origin  in  God ;  that  its  mode  and  method  of 
expression  are  dependent  upon  matter ;  that 
all  phenomena  connected  with  life's  history 
in  the  past  are  traceable  directly  and  solely 
to  this  mysterious  oneness  of  God  and  matter, 
we  must  inevitably  conclude  that  the  same 
immutable  law,  ever  evolving  and  widening  in 
its  scope,  is  related  as  persistently  to  our 
future  as  it  has  been  to  our  past  existence. 

Here,  also,  our  hope  and  expectation  of  an 
individual  immortality  finds  further  support. 
We,  as  individuals,  derive  our  life  from  the 
Infinite  Life  and,  consequently,  constitute  a 
part  of  the  Infinite  Life.     The  relationship 


Of  Identity  Between  Man  and  God    73 

is  thus  seen  to  be,  in  reality,  that  of  parent 
and  child.  Our  life  also  expresses  itself, 
as  does  the  parent  life,  —  the  Infinite,  — 
through,  and  by  means  of,  so  called  matter. 
Herein  is  manifested  something  of  our  "  Hke- 
ness  "  to  God ;  and  herein  we,  like  Him,  are 
also  a  oneness  of  life  and  matter.  That  is, 
the  life-principle  and  the  various  combinations 
of  matter  that  constitute  an  organism,  or 
physical  body,  form,  in  reality,  an  individual 
unity.  Or,  viewing  matter  as  simply  object- 
ive, we,  in  the  subjective  sense  are,  solely  and 
simply,  life,  and  a  part  of  the  Infinite  Life. 
It  thus  appears  that  there  is  a  fundamental 
spiritual  identity  between  man  and  God  in 
point  of  essential  nature. 

Can  Deity  die,  in  the  sense  of  becoming 
extinct  ?  If  so,  then  we  can  die.  If  He 
cannot  die,  how  can  we } 

But  it  is  now  not  infrequently  said  that  we 
may  return  to  the  source  of  life  like  the  con- 
templated ultimate  return  of  the  planets  to 
their  original  source,  and  some  one  may  ask  : 
What  in  this  event  becomes  of  our  individu- 


74  l^he  Evolution  of  Immortality 

ality  ?  My  reply  is  that  the  analogy  is  not  a 
true  one.  Planetary  matter  returning  to  its 
source,  sun-matter,  may  lose  its  individuality 
as  a  material  planet;  but  an  individual  life, 
cycling  through  infinite  time  and  space,  is 
quite  another  thing ;  by  this  individual  expe- 
rience in  time  and  space  it  gains  at  least  an 
immaterial  individual  consciousness.  My  con- 
sciousness is  not  yours,  and  it  can  never  be 
yours.  Each  attains  to  a  consciousness  of 
life,  or  self-knowledge,  —  that  is,  is  individual- 
ized by  his  own  peculiar  world  of  experience 
and  inheritance.  We  to-day  are  individuals, 
possessing  self-consciousness  and  self-deter- 
mining powers  ;  and  any  one  who  looks  deep 
into  the  trend  and  course  of  the  general  life 
of  the  human  race  must,  it  would  seem,  see 
clearly  that  the  universal  tendency  of  life,  in 
its  outlook  at  least,  is,  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  in  the  direction  of  a  greater  individual- 
ization of  the  individual.  Externally  the  ten- 
dency is,  undoubtedly,  toward  the  unity  of 
the  race  as  a  race  ;  but  internally  this  simply 
means  a  unity  of  aggregated  individual  units. 


Of  Identity  Between  Man  and  God     75 

*'  Whoever  lives  is  individual, 
Without  a  copy  or  a  precedent." 

To  illustrate  :  In  the  physical  realm  of 
Nature  we  begin  with  the  individual  cell. 
The  next  stage  is  that  of  a  community  of 
individual  cells.  Finally,  by  the  processes  of 
development,  or  evolution,  an  organism  re- 
sults, which  consists  of  individual  units  vitally 
connected  so  as  to  form  a  larger  unit.  With 
the  human  race,  we  call  this  larger  unit  Man. 
But  this  law  of  organic  evolution  does  not 
stop  with  the  development  of  the  physical. 
It  is  the  same  throughout  the  entire  realm  of 
phenomena.  It  passes  over  into  the  imma- 
terial, and  builds  up  political,  social,  and  moral 
institutions  in  almost  precisely  the  same  man- 
ner as  physical  organisms  are  formed. 

In  the  political  aspect  of  the  world  the 
start  is  also  with  the  individual  or  unit.  Then 
follows  a  community  of  units ;  the  town,  for 
instance.  The  same  law  of  development,  or 
community  of  vital  interests,  results  in  the 
organization  of  counties,  States,  and  Nations ; 
each  a  political  organism,  with  functions  pe- 


'j6  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

culiar  to  its  specific  plane  of  being  or  place 
in  the  body  politic ;  but  all,  when  perfected, 
working  harmoniously  together  for  the  com- 
mon good  and  the  equal  rights  of  the  units, 
the  individual  men  and  women  that  form  the 
organism  or  political  body.  This  same  law 
of  progressive  development  also  foreshadows 
the  time  when  there  shall  be  a  confederacy 
of  nations,  a  political  world-organism,  a  race- 
unity,  the  highest  function  of  which  shall  be 
to  secure  to  the  race-unit  —  Man  —  the  free- 
dom of  a  fair  chance  in  the  exercise  of  his 
inalienable  right  to  preserve  and  enhance  his 
inherent  individuality. 

The  same  law  applies  in  social,  moral,  and 
religious  realms.  There  is  first  the  unit,  the 
individual  man ;  then  a  community  of  units. 
These  units  come  to  feel  that,  in  order  to 
preserve  and  enhance  their  individuality  in 
the  social,  moral,  and  religious  aspect,  it  is 
necessary  to  form  a  vital  association,  co-oper- 
ative in  its  nature.  Hence  social,  moral,  and 
religious  organisms  result.  The  unit  finds 
himself  under  the  power  of  some  external  ad- 


Of  Identity  Between  Man  and  God     77 

verse  conditions,  or  environments,  and  thus 
seeks,  or  forms,  an  aggregate  commensurate 
to  his  need  —  an  institution,  a  larger  unity. 
The  unit  institution  is  soon  followed  by  an 
aggregation  of  institutions,  and  thus  a  higher 
plane  of  unity  of  institutions  is  reached. 
Each  institution  becomes  an  integral  part  of  a 
larger  institution,  there  being  no  end,  nor  shall 
there  be  any,  to  this  ascent  from  institution 
to  institution,  from  unity  to  unity,  until  an 
"absolute  institution"  is  reached  that  shall 
embrace  "an  infinite  community  of  souls, 
including  the  inhabitants  of  all  worlds  that 
have  evolved  human  beings  since  the  be- 
ginning; an  institution  become  perfect  and 
divine."  "Thus  immortality  is  presupposed 
by  all  the  instrumentalities  of  civilization  " ; 
and  "the  completion  of  spiritual  life  in  the 
communion  of  all  souls  is  the  final  cause  or 
purpose  of  immortal  life."  "An  institution 
eliminates  from  itself  the  defects  of  the  in- 
dividuals composing  it,  and  in  turn  helps 
the  individuals  to  free  themselves  of  defect 
through  it." 


78  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

"  A  people  is  but  the  attempt  of  many 
To.  rise  to  the  completer  life  of  one ; 
And  those  who  live  as  models  for  the  mass 
Are  singly  of  more  value  than  they  all." 

And  SO  "  each  shall  help  all  —  a  finite  act ; 
all  shall  help  each  —  an  infinite  act.  Each 
one  thus  participating  in  the  infinite,  invisible 
communion  of  souls  shall  thus  be  made  infi- 
nite and  divine.  Hence  the  Invisible  Church 
of  all  immortal  spirits  becomes  the  Institution 
whose  eternity  is  as  divine  as  the  Creator's." 
Herein  a  glimpse  may  be  caught  of  the  out- 
come of  organic  evolution,  the  fundamental 
law  of  which  is  the  co-operative  association  of 
individual  units,  a  law  universal  in  its  scope, 
reaching  from  atoms  to  man. 

Thus  we  trace  our  individual  life  history 
back  to  its  source,  the  Infinite  Life.  It  mys- 
teriously emanates,  or  is  detached,  therefrom, 
and  assumes  particularity,  in  a  physical  sense, 
in  the  cell  organism  —  an  individual  unit.  In 
the  ascending  scale  of  the  organic  evolution 
of  this  unit-life,  we  find  an  aggregation  of  cell 
units,  vitally  connected,  forming  a  larger  unit. 


Of  Identity  Between  Man  and  God     79 

the  human  physical  organism.  We  next  find 
this  larger  unit,  man,  the  summit  of  phys- 
ical creation,  rising  into  a  self-conscious,  self- 
determining  being.  As  the  next  stage  of 
organic  evolution,  his  consciousness  of  exter- 
nal conditions  and  relationships  results  in  the 
"  institution  "  ;  which  is  "  a  unity  of  persons, 
and  endowed  by  them  with  personality."  And 
thus,  in  his  progress,  he  passes  over  from  the 
material  or  physical  into  the  mental  and  spir- 
itual realms  of  his  being,  becoming  an  integral 
part  of  the  endless  aggregation  of  institutions 
which  include  "  all  intelligent  beings  through- 
out the  universe  —  an  eternal  stream  of  crea- 
tion —  especially  after  death  has  removed  the 
dividing  limits  that  separate  souls  of  one 
planet  from  those  of  another."  Life  —  your 
life  and  mine  —  is  thus  seen  to  express  itself 
by  the  laws  of  evolution  and  continuity  of 
organisms,  commencing  with  the  physical, 
passing  over  into  the  mental  and  spiritual, 
resulting  in  an  integral  part  of  the  Infinite 
Organism,  the  universal  Oneness  of  all  be- 
ing. 


8o  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

In  this  sense  we  may  say :  "  As  is  the 
atom  to  the  universe  of  matter,  so  is  man  to 
Deity."  We  also  may  thus  recognize  "  self 
as  a  part  of  a  universal  whole,  yet  a  something 
forever  separate  and  individual."  The  indi- 
viduality of  experience,  of  consciousness,  of 
inheritance,  of  apprehension,  remains,  forming 
a  community  and  communion  of  individual 
souls  that  shall  constitute  an  immortal  social 
union  of  the  universe  of  intelligences.  From 
God,  to  God,  —  by  the  only  way  known  to 
Law  or  Gospel  :  co-operative  association  — 
each  for  all  and  all  for  each  —  the  Golden 
Rule.  Here  we  touch  the  realm  of  ulti- 
mates. 


VII 

Of  the  Origin  and  Evolution  of  Con- 
sciousness 


RETURNING  again  to  the  embryological 
stage  of  our  history,  and  drawing  upon 
the  two  prominent  composite  physical  facts 
connected  therewith  for  an  analogy,  we  may 
say  that  one  of  the  composites,  matter,  is 
divided  into  two  more  or  less  distinct  classes  ; 
namely,  the  formed  and  the  forming,  or,  more 
properly,  the  evolved  and  the  evolving  bodies. 
In  the  early  stages  of  embryological  life 
the  play  of  life's  forces  is  chiefly  engaged  in 
evolving  the  external  body,  —  the  placenta, 
—  which  we  term,  later  on,  the  formed  or 
evolved  embryonic  body.  When  this  is  ad- 
vanced or  largely  accomplished,  the  forming 
process  more  especially  relates  to  the  embryo 


82  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

itself.  This  process,  so  active  before  birth, 
is  not  completed  until  long  after  birth ;  until, 
in  fact,  we  have  reached  that  period  in  our 
present  physical  stage  called  maturity  —  mean- 
ing, of  course,  only  physical  maturity,  the 
noon  of  the  day  for  the  human  body.  After 
this,  the  afternoon  sets  in,  and  eternal  night 
is  our  fast  approaching  doom  —  unless  our 
analogy  is  significant ;  unless  life's  forces, 
which  in  all  the  past  have  never  ceased  to 
work  in  a  creative  or  evolving  sense,  shall  con- 
centrate their  energies  upon  the  higher  work 
of  forming  spiritual  bodies,  which  shall  serve 
as  the  homes  of  the  ever  evolving,  undying 
spirits  we  call  and  know  as  our  real  selves. 

Evolution  is  recognized  to-day  as  the  great 
law  that  relates  to  the  entire  physical  uni- 
verse. "  Why,  in  truth,  should  evolution  pro- 
ceed along  the  gross  and  palpable  lines  of 
the  visible,  and  not  also  be  hard  at  work 
upon  the  subtler  elements  which  are  behind  — 
molding,  governing,  and  emancipating  them  ?  '* 
If  by  evolution  we  have  come  into  the  pres- 
ent  stage   of   existence,  through   successive 


Of  Consciousness  83 

stages  of  organic  life  from  the  great  past, 
why  may  we  not,  by  the  operations  of  the 
same  eternal  law,  continue  to  evolve  or  rise 
through  "  succeeding  phases  of  an  endless 
life  "  ?  Unless  this  be  true,  the  spark  of  life 
—  given  of  God,  if  indeed  it  be  not  a  part  of 
God  —  goes  out.  Unless  this  be  true,  then 
our  highest  aspirations  and  deepest  conscious- 
ness are  deceptive  and  play  us  false.  For, 
as  we  approach,  and,  more  especially,  as  we 
pass,  maturity  in  the  physical  sense,  we  be- 
come progressively  conscious  of  living  more 
exclusively  in  the  mental  and  spiritual  world 
of  our  being  and  nature.  We  become  more 
and  more  conscious  of  the  positive  limitations 
of  our  physical  environment ;  that  by  these 
externals  we  are  barred  and  fettered  from  the 
full  exercise  of  powers,  and  from  the  capabil- 
ities of  apprehension  and  enjoyment  that  well 
up  within  our  inmost  selves  at  times  when 
the  physical  seems  less  dominant.  We  know 
that  our  bodies  are  mortal,  and  that  the  weak- 
nesses and  ills  that  trouble  them  are  prophetic 
of  "  modes  of  exit."    But  great  souls  feel  that 


84  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

they  "  can  get  on  "  without  these  physical 
bodies ;  that  these  hinder  the  full  expression 
and  activity  of  their  essential  selves. 

Somehow,  for  some  reason  inherent  in  hu- 
man nature,  the  vast  majority  of  the  human 
race  feel,  or  sense,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
the  existence  of  Deity,  spiritual  things,  and 
immortality.  How  is  this  fact  to  be  ac- 
counted for?  for  it  is  a  fact  as  real  as  the 
existence  of  the  chemical  elements  of  hydro- 
gen, oxygen,  carbon,  and  so  forth.  To  very 
many,  the  objective  reality  of  the  sun  to  their 
own  subjective  consciousness  is  no  more  real 
than  are  spiritual  things,  or  facts.  In  the 
light  of  physical  science  it  seems  to  be  per- 
fectly legitimate  to  claim  that  all  our  senses, 
both  physical  and  spiritual,  have  a  common 
origin  in  environment.  It  appears  to  be  a 
reasonable  scientific  hypothesis  that  "  environ- 
ment so  acts  upon  an  undeveloped  organism 
as  to  produce  first  a  feeling.  This  feeling,  in 
process  of  time,  results  in  the  evolution  of 
organs  of  sense.  Through,  or  by  means  of, 
these  organs  of  sense  sensation  is  evolved, 


Of  Consciousness  85 

and,  in  like  manner,  we  finally  become  con- 
scious beings,  and  know  the  reality  of  the 
objectivity  of  our  environment.**  Herbert 
Spencer  forcibly  shows  the  truth  of  this  po- 
sition regarding  the  origin  and  evolution  of 
sense  organs.  It  is  a  law  that  can  hardly 
be  denied.  The  eye,  and  all  that'  the  organ 
of  sight  reveals  to  our  consciousness,  is  de- 
pendent upon  and  directly  due  to  the  object- 
ive reality  of  the  sun.  "  The  fact  that  fishes 
in  water  that  comes  under  the  direct  action 
of  the  rays  of  the  sun  have  well  developed 
eyes,  and  the  other  fact  that  fishes  living  in 
the  waters  of  the  Mammoth  Cave  do  not  have 
organs  of  sight,  well  illustrate  this  law.** 
Change  the  environment,  and  the  conditions 
correspondingly  change ;  the  first  become 
sightless  and  the  latter  sight-seeing.  "  Both 
classes  were  primarily  endowed  with  the  pos- 
sibility of  seeing,  but  the  reality  of  sight 
depended  upon  environment."  The  fact  that 
any  have  sight  is  thus  correlative  proof  of 
the  objective  existence  of  the  sun.  The  same 
is  true  with  reference  to  all  the  other  sense 


86  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

organs.  The  primal  organisms  possessed 
simply  the  possibilities  of  sense  and  con- 
sciousness, but  the  evolution  of  sense  organs 
and,  consequently,  of  consciousness,  is  due 
solely  to  environment.  Heredity,  adaptation, 
and  environment  —  the  trinity  of  forces  be- 
fore alluded  to  —  "  seem  to  be  the  creative 
forces  that  result  in  man's  present  physical 
condition.  In  other  words,  certain  objective 
forces  operating  through  vast  periods  of  time 
have  determined  man  to  be  what  we  see  him 
to  be  at  present." 

The  significance  of  this  physical  fact,  in 
this  connection,  is  that  "for  every  fact  in 
the  physical  constitution  of  man,  there  is  a 
corresponding  creative  fact  or  force  in  the 
environment  which  has  been  for  countless 
ages  operating  upon  him  and  making  him 
what  he  is."  If  he  sees,  there  must  be 
"light."  If  he  hears,  there  must  be  vibra- 
tions that  produce  "  sound."  If  he  is  capable 
of  being  impressed  through  any  of  the  phys- 
ical sense  organs,  then  he  is,  and  must  have 
been,  for  long  ages,  touched  by  an  objective 


Of  Consciousness  87 

reality  outside  of  himself.  In  other  terms, 
the  "  seeing  "  and  "  feeling  "  prove  the  ex- 
istence of  corresponding  objective  realities. 
"  Men  know  nothing  and  can  know  nothing 
of  what  does  not  touch  them." 

Now,  if  this  be  true  in  regard  to  man's 
physical  nature,  have  we  not  here  a  glimpse 
of  the  laws  that  result  in  the  origin  and  evo- 
lution of  his  spiritual  nature?  Do  not  the 
physical  and  spiritual  laws  run  in  parallel 
lines  }  Are  they  not,  rather,  one  law  .?  Were 
there  no  real  spiritual  objective  forces,  is  it 
reasonable,  even  in  the  light  of  physical  laws, 
to  suppose  that  man  would  have  developed 
any  spiritual  apprehension  of  Deity,  of  spirit- 
ual things,  of  immortality }  No  one  who 
at  all  carefully  investigates  the  histories  of 
the  evolution  of  man's  physical  and  spiritual 
natures  can  fail  to  see  that  both  run  along 
perfectly  parallel  lines.  Environing  realities, 
outside^  of  him,  so  act  and  react  upon  him 
as  to  awaken  sensation,  and  sensation  finally 
results  in  a  consciousness  of  the  objective 
realities.     It  is  true  that  we  may  "  feel "  with- 


88  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

out  possessing  a  knowledge  of  what  produces 
the  feeling.  But  the  fact  nevertheless  re- 
mains, "  that  for  every  essential  fact  in  man's 
nature  (both  physical  and  spiritual)  we  have 
a  corresponding  creative  fact  or  force  in  his 
environment."  We  may  hear  without  under- 
standing all  the  intricacies  of  wave-currents 
or  vibratory  motion ;  but  we  could  not  hear 
did  not  wave-currents  exist  as  an  objective 
reality.  The  same  is  true  of  seeing,  smelling, 
tasting,  and  feeling ;  each  sense  has  a  corre- 
sponding reality  of  environment  adequate  to 
its  development ;  and  the  development  of 
these  sense  possibilities  of  the  embryo  clearly 
reveals  "the  nature  of  the  forces  that  act 
upon  it." 

Admitting  this  to  be  a  universal  law  of 
organic  and  sense  development,  it  necessarily 
follows  that  the  almost  universal  sense  of 
aspiration  for,  and  confidence  in,  the  realities 
of  a  continued  spiritual  existence  beyond  the 
realm  of  physical  limitations,  "  has  come  into 
existence  as  the  correlate  of  certain  spiritual 
realities,  and  that  it  has  been  made  to  be  what 


Of  Consciousness  89 

it  is,  rather  than  something  different,  by  the 
facts  of  environment."  That  is,  our  spiritual 
sense  is  as  really  the  result  of  spiritual  object- 
ive realities  that  environ  us,  as  is  the  sense  of 
sight  the  result  of  the  objective  reality  of 
the  sun.  Thus,  in  the  light  of  science,  the 
"feeling,"  or  subjective  consciousness,  may 
be  cited  as  reasonable  proof  of  the  existence 
of  an  objective  reality  which  is  the  counter- 
part of  such  feeling  or  consciousness.  The 
office  of  physical  sense  organs  in  man  is  to 
reveal  to  the  ego  the  relation  it  sustains  to 
the  material  universe.  They  are  "the  eyes 
of  the  soul  as  it  looks  earthward  upon  the 
phenomena  of  Nature  " ;  and  they  have  no 
relation  with  things  external  to  his  physical 
nature.  They  all  pertain  to  the  organism 
that  soon  or  late  breaks  up  and  disappears 
from  the  realm  of  sense.  They  are  of  the 
external  alone,  the  cerebro-spinal  system  of 
nerves  that  "  knows  nothing  but  what  it 
collects  to  itself  from  the  outside."  Not  so 
with  the  spiritual  system  of  perceptions.  It, 
like  the  ganglionic  nervous  system,  "has  its 


90  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

meaning  entirely  within  itself."  It  reveals  to 
the  ego  —  the  selfhood  of  man  —  its  relation 
to  the  immaterial. 

This  point  might  be  elaborated  to  an  indef- 
inite extent ;  but  I  have  said  enough  to  make 
it  sufficiently  prominent  in  this  connection. 
I  wish  to  recall,  however,  right  here,  Professor 
Du  Bois'  definition  of  science  :  "  The  verifica- 
tion of  the  ideal  in  Nature."  It  certainly  has 
to  be  considered  with  facts  and  their  relations, 
—  which  is  science. 


VIII 
Of  a  Consciousness  of  Limitations 

1  SHALL  refer  to  only  one  other  significant 
fact  connected  with  our  embryonic  history ; 
but  it  is  one  that  seems  immensely  suggestive 
if  taken  in  connection  with  its  counterpart  in 
our  present  stage  of  being.  I  allude  to  what 
may  be  called  a  consciousness  of  limitations 
on  the  part  of  the  embryo  during  the  latter 
stages  of  its  embryonic  existence.  I  need 
not  enter  into  details  to  define  what  is  here 
meant.  Those  who  have  given  the  subject  of 
embryolo^  any  study,  or  even  a  little  thought, 
must  know  to  what  phenomena  reference  is 
made.  The  peeping  of  a  chick,  for  instance, 
together  with  the  greater  or  less  exercise  of 
other  newly  found  organs  or  members,  for 
days  prior  to  its  rupture  of  its  shell  and  its 


92  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

passage  out  of  its  restricted  and  confining 
environment  into  this  new  and  infinitely  larger 
world  which  surrounded  and  included  the  old, 
has  its  counterpart  in  all  embryological  life, 
and  especially  so  of  the  human  race.  What 
is  this  if  it  be  not  the  sure  evidence  of  an 
awakening  consciousness,  on  the  part  of  the 
embryo,  of  the  possession  of  powers  and 
capabilities  that  require  a  freer  range  and 
scope  than  the  Hmitations  of  its  present  en- 
vironment render  possible  ?  We  now  know, 
as  the  result  of  a  larger  measure  of  apprehen- 
sion of  the  totality  of  things,  that  this  con- 
sciousness of  limitations,  manifested  by  the 
embryo,  is  but  the  merest  suggestion  of  the 
reality  that  awaits  it  when  it  shall  emerge  from 
the  old  placental  body,  that  can  no  longer  con- 
tribute to  the  evolution  of  the  inherent  powers 
and  forces  that  constitute  its  life  —  the  real 
personality  from  the  beginning. 

This  embryonic  consciousness  of  limitation 
has  its  counterpart,  I  claim,  in  our  present 
stage  of  being.  Emerson's  quiet  reply  to  the 
Second  Adventist :  "  Well,  suppose  the  world 


Of  a  Consciousness  of  Limitations       93 

does  come  to  an  end;  it  would  not  trouble 
me  any.  I  think  I  can  get  on  without  it," 
is  the  same  consciousness  —  in  kind  —  as  the 
peep  of  an  unborn  chick.  The  difference  is 
simply  one  of  degree.  Both  are  prophetic  of 
that  which  is  to  be. 

If  it  be  claimed  that  this  is  not  conscious- 
ness, in  any  true  sense  of  the  term,  because 
we  have  no  memory  of  our  embryonic  state, 
the  reply  may  be  made  that  consciousness  is 
something  else  than  mere  mechanical  mem- 
ory. Who  can  remember  anything  of  his 
first  year  of  physical  existence }  What,  it 
may  be  asked,  is  the  difference  between  the 
consciousness  of  a  child  a  week  before  birth 
and  a  week  after  birth .?  or,  even,  six  months 
before  and  six  months  after  birth?  Con- 
sciousness, like  everything  else,  is  a  matter 
of  growth,  of  evolution.  Who  of  us  can  tell 
when  it  began  in  his  own  case.?  Who  is 
ready  to  say  that  he  is  as  conscious  as  he 
ever  will  be ;  that  his  consciousness  is  not  to 
continue  to  grow  and  unfold  endlessly.?  If 
the  term  ** embryonic  instinct"  should  suit 


94  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

any  possible  critic  better  than  embryonic  con- 
sciousness, I  would  ask :  What  is  instinct  if 
it  be  not  slumbering  memories,  or  an  unawak- 
ened  consciousness  that  comes  down  to  us  as 
the  result  of  an  inheritance  out  of  all  the  life 
that  has  been  lived  before  us,  to  which  no 
age,  no  human  being,  has  failed  to  add  his 
contribution  ? 

"  Our  finest  hope  is  finest  memory." 

Up  to  the  point  of  physical  birth  the  results 
of  all  this  experience  and  life  of  the  ages 
before  us  lie  slumbering  in  that  state  we  term 
"  instinct " ;  or,  rather,  before  birth,  it  does 
not  emerge  above  it.  But  at  birth  our  inher- 
itance begins  to  crystallize  into  consciousness 
and  self-determining  power,  a  point  whence 
an  individual  immortality  becomes  possible,  if 
not  indeed  inevitable.  If  the  Eternal  Source 
of  phenomena  is  the  same  as  that  "which  in 
ourselves  wells  up  under  the  form  of  con- 
sciousness," as  Herbert  Spencer  puts  it,  we 
surely  have  arrived  at  a  point  in  our  unfold- 
ment  when  we  possess  that  which  is,  in  its 


Of  a  Consciousness  of  Limitations       95 

very  nature,  immortal.  Consciousness,  then, 
is  "a  graduated  scale  without  a  zero,  having 
no  starting-point  from  which  a  reckoning  can 
be  made,"  unless  we  say  that  it  was  potential 
in  the  absolute  beginning  of  our  existence, 
and  is  the  fruition  of  all  that  has  preceded 
our  present  stage  of  being.  As  the  rose  is 
potential  in  the  germ,  so  self-consciousness 
and  the  spiritual  nature  of  man  must  be  the 
result  of  an  unfoldment  of  that  which,  from 
the  first,  was  inherently  and  potentially  pres- 
ent. If  a  great  past  precedes  its  present 
state,  then,  according  to  the  laws  of  evolution 
and  continuity,  a  great  future  is  before  it, 
toward  which  it  ever  reaches  forth  and  act- 
ively and  unceasingly  proceeds.  The  con- 
sciousness of  the  temporal  nature  of  this 
stage  of  our  existence  prompts  and  impels 
an  effort  to  subordinate  the  physical  to  the 
mental  and  spiritual,  and  keeps  prominently 
before  the  mind  the  fact  that  the  realities  of 
life,  in  a  relative  sense  at  least,  lie  beyond  the 
physical. 

Rightly  and  broadly  viewed,  both  physically 


g6  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

and  metaphysically,  this  consciousness  of  lim- 
itations is  a  sure  and  sufficient  evidence  of  an 
ultimate  broader  and  deeper  realization  of  life 
beyond  this  stage  of  our  existence.  It  is 
more  than  the  first  faint  flush  of  the  morning 
that  precedes  each  new  day.  In  embryonic 
life  any  marked  manifestations  of  a  conscious- 
ness of  limitations  do  not  appear  until  the 
later  stages  of  that  life.  The  same  is  true 
in  this  stage  also,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent. 
In  childhood,  youth,  and  early  maturity  life's 
vital  forces  find  full  play  in  perfecting  the 
material  organism  and  preparing  it  to  perform 
its  full  function  as  an  organism.  At  these 
various  stages  the  consciousness  of  limita- 
tions relates  to  an  undeveloped  physical  or- 
ganism. We  look  forward  to  the  time  when 
we  may  hope  to  possess  better  developed 
bodies,  brains,  and  so  forth,  through  and  by 
which  to  realize  our  ideals  and  give  expres- 
sion to  the  true  inner  life  that  continually 
asserts  itself,  crying  for  more  room  and  a 
larger  scope  and  range  of  activities.  But  as 
we  pass  physical  maturity,  and  the  evening 


Of  a  Consciousness  of  Limitations       97 

twilight  of  this  stage  of  life  sets  in,  "  Nature 
relaxes  the  bonds  and  pressure  of  vitality,  in 
order  to  reconcile  her  children  to  the  pros- 
pects of  the  coming  change."  We  then  begin 
to  realize  that  even  a  slight  approximation 
toward  a  full  realization  of  life's  highest 
ideals  —  ideals  that  in  our  best  moments 
seem  native  to  our  inner  being  —  implies  a 
continued  life,  a  more  perfect  organism,  a 
state  of  being  freed  from  many  things  that 
now  seem  to  be,  in  a  very  decided  sense, 
limitations. 

If  we  may  reasonably  conclude  that  this 
sense  of  physical  limitations,  of  which  we  are 
so  often  conscious,  is  but  the  magnified  coun- 
terpart of  a  like  consciousness  that  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  later  stages  of  all  embryological 
existence,  we  may  as  reasonably  believe  that 
it  is  now,  in  our  own  case,  no  less  prophetic 
of  future  realities ;  that  it,  also,  is  but  the 
merest  suggestion  of  the  nature  and  scope 
of  possibilities  and  unfoldment  that  await  us. 
That  our  present  embryonic  spiritual  being 
shall,  also,  when  the  physical  can  no  longer 


98  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

serve  it  nor  longer  be  conducive  to  its  devel- 
opment, pass  out  from  physical  restrictions  — 
whose  domination  now  hampers  its  free  scope 
and  range  of  inherent  possibilities  —  endowed 
with  an  organism  better  suited  to  its  new 
environment  and  more  commensurate  with  an 
unfolding  of  its  divine  nature  and  essence,  — 
this  surely  is  a  reasonable  deduction  from  the 
laws  and  processes  of  Nature. 
What  shall  be 

"  When  eternity  affirms  the  conception  of  an  hour  "  ? 

The  fact  that  we  cannot  now  apprehend  or 
know  is,  of  itself,  "an  immense  promise  of 
coming  enlightenment."  We  may  rest  as- 
sured, however,  that  "  the  things  not  seen  are 
eternal."  But  because  they  are  now  unseen 
they  need  not  be  called  supernatural.  The 
spiritual  must  be  the  fruition  or  flowering  of 
the  physical,  not  only  real  but  substantial  to 
adequate  perceptions.  And  so  we  may  wisely 
and  confidently  exclaim,  with  the  poet : 

"  He  that  hath  led  me  hither 
Will  lead  me  hence." 


IX 
The  Forward  Look 

-^ 

FROM  this  viewpoint,  we  are  not  to  sup- 
pose that,  as  we  pass  on  to  the  next  stage 
of  progressive  existence,  we  have  reached  the 
consummation.  Standing  here  and  looking 
back  with  all  the  aids  at  our  command,  along 
the  line  whence  we  came,  we  fail  to  discover 
the  beginning  or  the  successive  stages  through 
which  we  have  already  passed ;  so,  in  looking 
forward,  we  fail  to  catch  even  a  glimpse  of 
the  end. 

The  spiritual  body  being,  however,  a  unit 
organism,  composed  of  some  form  of  matter, 
—  a  mode  of  motion,  —  it  also  must  be  change- 
ful in  form  and  combination,  in  accordance 
with  laws  pertaining  to  matter.  Should  it  be 
composed  of  the  elements  of  universal  ether, 


100  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

or  should  the  external  organism  which  our 
life  -  principle,  or  spirit,  is  to  inhabit  in  the 
next  stage  be  composed  of  a  higher  or  finer 
quality,  arrangement,  or  mode  of  motion  of 
matter  than  that  of  which  our  present  bodies 
are  composed,  it  would  simply  pass  under 
higher  and  more  complex  laws  than  any  that 
we  now  know  as  pertaining  to  the  grosser 
forms  of  substance ;  and  it  would  carry  with 
itself  the  adequate  senses  of  perception  of 
objective  realities  external  to  itself.  "Birth 
gave  to  each  of  us  much."  Why  then  may 
we  not  reasonably  assume  that  "death  may 
give  us  very  much  more,  in  the  way  of  subtler 
senses  to  behold  colors  we  cannot  here  see, 
to  catch  sounds  we  do  not  now  hear,  and  to 
be  aware  of  bodies  and  objects  impalpable  at 
present  to  us,  but  perfectly  real,  intelligibly 
constructed,  and  constituting  an  organized 
society  and  a  governed,  multiformed  State  "  1 

Edwin  Arnold  has  written  that  which  so 
well  harmonizes  with  this  thought,  it  seems 
fitting  and  appropriate  to  quote.  He  says  : 
"  Where  does  Nature  show  signs  of  breaking 


The  Forward  Look  lOi 

off  her  magic,  that  she  should  stop  at  the  five 
organs  and  the  sixty-odd  elements  ?  Are  we 
free  to  spread  over  the  face  of  this  little 
earth,  and  never  freed  to  spread  through 
the  solar  system  and  beyond  it  ?  Nay,  the 
heavenly  bodies  are,  to  the  ether  which  con- 
tains them,  as  mere  spores  of  sea-weed  floating 
in  the  ocean.  Are  only  the  specks  filled  with 
life,  and  not  the  space  ?  What  does  Nature 
possess  more  valuable  iur  all  she  has  wrought 
here  than  the  wisdom  of  the  sage,  the  tender- 
ness of  the  mother,  the  devotion  of  the  lover, 
and  the  opulent  imagination  of  the  poet,  that 
she  should  let  these  priceless  things  be  utterly 
lost  by  a  quinsy  or  a  flux  ?  It  is  a  hundred 
times  more  reasonable  to  believe  that  she 
commences  afresh  with  such  delicately  devel- 
oped treasures,  making  them  the  groundwork 
and  stuff  for  splendid  further  living  by  the 
process  of  death,  which,  even  when  it  seems 
accidental  or  premature,  is  probably  as  natural 
and  gentle  as  birth ;  and  wherefrom,  it  may 
well  be,  the  new-bom  dead  arises  to  find  a 
fresh  world  ready  for  his  pleasant  and  novel 


102  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

body,  with  gracious  and  willing  kindred  min- 
istrations awaiting  it,  like  those  which  provided 
for  the  human  babe  the  guarding  arms  and 
nourishing  breasts  of  its  mother.  As  the 
babe's  eyes  opened  to  strange  sunlight  here, 
so  may  the  eyes  of  the  dead  lift  glad  and  sur- 
prised lids  to  '  a  light  that  never  was  on  sea 
or  land ' ;  and  so  may  his  delighted  ears  hear 
speech  and  music  proper  to  the  spheres  be- 
yond, while  he  laughs  contentedly  to  find  how 
touch  and  taste  and  smell  had  all  been  fore- 
casts of  faculties  accurately  following  upon 
the  lowly  lessons  of  this  earthly  nursery  !  It 
is  really  just  as  easy  and  logical  to  think  such 
will  be  the  outcome  of  the  *  life  which  now  is,* 
as  to  terrify  weak  souls  into  wickedness  by 
medieval  hells,  or  to  wither  the  bright  instincts 
of  youth  or  love  with  horizons  of  black  annihi- 
lation. 

"  Moreover  those  new  materials  and  sur- 
roundings of  the  farther  being  would  bring  a 
•more  intense  and  verified  as  well  as  a  higher 
existence.     Man  is  less  superior  to  the  sensi- 
tive-plant now  than  his   re -embodied  spirit 


The  Forward  Look  103 

would  probably  then  be  to  his  present  person- 
ality. Nor  does  anything  except  ignorance 
and  despondency  forbid  the  belief  that  the 
senses  so  etherealized  and  enhanced,  and  so 
fitly  adapted  to  the  fine  combinations  of  ad- 
vanced entity,  would  discover  without  much 
amazement  sweet  and  friendly  societies  spring- 
ing from,  but  proportionately  upraised  above, 
the  old  associations  ;  art  divinely  elevated ; 
science  splendidly  expanding ;  bygone  loves 
and  sympathies  explaining  and  obtaining  their 
purpose ;  activities  set  free  for  vaster  cosmic 
service ;  abandoned  hopes  realized  at  last ; 
despaired-of  joys  come  magically  within  ready 
reach  ;  regrets  and  repentances  softened  by 
wider  knowledge,  surer  foresight,  and  the  dis- 
covery that  though  in  this  universe  nothing 
can  be  *  forgiven,'  everything  may  be  repaid 
and  repaired.  In  such  a  stage,  though  little 
removed  relatively  from  this,  the  widening  of 
faith,  delight,  and  love  (and  therefore  of  virtue 
which  depends  on  these)  would  be  very  large. 
Everywhere  would  be  discerned  the  fact,  if 
not  the  full  mystery,  of  continuity,  of  evolu- 


104  T^h^  Evolution  of  Immortality 

tion,  and  of  the  never  ending  progress  in  all 
that  lives  towards  beauty,  happiness,  and  use 
without  limit.  To  call  such  a  life  *  Heaven ' 
or  the  *  Hereafter,'  is  a  concession  to  the 
illusions  of  speech  and  thought,  for  these 
words  imply  locality  and  time,  which  are  but 
provisional  conceptions.  It  would  rather  be 
a  state,  a  plane  of  faculties,  to  expand  again 
into  other  and  higher  states  or  planes;  the 
slowest  and  the  lowest  in  the  race  of  life 
coming  in  last,  but  each  —  everywhere  — 
finally  attaining.  After  all,  as  Shakespeare 
so  merrily  hints,  *  That  that  is,  is  ! '  and  when 
we  look  into  the  blue  of  the  sky  we  actually 
see  visible  Infinity.  When  we  regard  the 
stars  of  midnight  we  veritably  perceive  the 
mansions  of  Nature,  countless  and  illimitable ; 
so  that  even  our  narrow  senses  reprove  our 
timid  minds. 

"  If  such  shadows  of  the  future  be  ever  so 
faintly  cast  from  real  existences,  fear  and  care 
might,  at  one  word,  pass  from  the  minds  of 
men,  as  evil  dreams  depart  from  little  children 
waking  to  their  mother's  kiss ;  and  all  might 


The  Forward  Look  105 

feel  how  subtly  wise  the  poet  was  who  wrote 
of  that  first  mysterious  night  on  earth,  which 
showed  the  unexpected  stars  :  when  — 

♦' '  Hesperus,  with  the  hosts  of  heaven  came, 
And  lo,  Creation  widened  on  man's  view ! 

Who  could  have  thought  such  marvels  lay  concealed 
Within  thy  beams,  O  Sun  ?  or  who  could  find  — 

Whilst  flower  and  leaf  and  insect  stood  revealed  — 
That  to  such  countless  orbs  thou  mad'st  us  blind  ? 

Why  do  we,  then,  shun  Death  with  anxious  strife  ? 

If  Light  can  thus  deceive,  wherefore  not  Life  ? ' " 


X 

Discussion* 

T^HERE  are  one  or  two  points  in  the  fore- 
^  going  pages  where  a  fuller  elaboration  of 
the  general  line  of  the  main  argument  may 
be  advisable,  especially  because,  from  two  or 
three  sources,  there  have  come  questionings 
regarding  the  validity  of  some  of  the  conclu- 
sions drawn  from  the  basal  analogy  presented 
in  the  earlier  chapters. 

Let  it  be  understood  at  the  outset  that  the 
analogies  themselves  are  not  called  in  ques- 
tion by  these  writers  of  high  scientific  attain- 
ment. The  queries  arise  as  to  the  validity  of 
the  full  extent  of  the  conclusions  that  have 
been  drawn  therefrom,  relating  especially  to 
the  matter  of  the  continuity  of  self-conscious- 

*  Appendix  to  the  Third  Edition  (1890). 


Discussion  107 

ness  and  the  connection  that  exists  between 
what  are  called  the  "  first  "  and  "  second  " 
parts  of  the  book ;  the  "  first "  part  ending, 
from  this  view,  with  Chapter  IV. 

Says  one  :  "  The  continuity  of  self -con- 
sciousness is,  of  course,  the  whole  point. 
Without  that  there  is  no  immortality.  Your 
argument  I  would  state  thus  :  Our  life  history 
shows  us  that  every  entrance  to  a  new  stage 
is  preceded  by  a  death ;  shall  not,  then,  the 
death  of  the  present  envelope  also  be  the 
prelude  to  another  stage  }  This  can  only  be 
answered  in  the  affirmative.  The  analogy 
seems  sound  and,  as  you  enforce  it,  most  con- 
vincing. Now,  then,  —  and  here  is  the  point, 
—  shall  we  take  over  our  consciousness  into 
that  new  stage  without  break  of  continuity .? 
Here  the  analogy  breaks  down.  We  have 
not  done  this  in  the  previous  stage.  There 
has  been  no  such  continuity  of  consciousness 
in  the  past.  Why  should  there  be  in  the 
future }  But  you  would  reply,  I  take  it, 
there  has  been  no  self-consciousness  to  take 
over  heretofore.    That  I  admit  is  a  sufficient 


io8  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

answer.  But,  that  being  the  case,  what  help 
does  the  analogy  give  us  ?  As  in  past  changes 
we  have  left  behind  many,  if  not  all,  of  the 
things  which  belong  to  the  past  stage,  why  in 
the  coming  change  should  we  take  with  us 
anything  of  this,  and  why  should  self-con- 
sciousness be  the  exception  ?  If  we  leave  all 
else,  why  not  that  ?  Please  note,  I  do  not 
deny  the  conclusion ;  I  think  it  is  sound,  and 
you  make  a  strong  case  for  it.  But  I  think 
your  most  convincing  reasons  are  not  due  to 
your  analogy ;  are  not  much  reinforced  by 
it  even.  The  connection  between  first  and 
second  parts  is  not,  to  my  mind,  very  cogent. 
To  me  the  convincing  part  of  your  argument 
begins  where  your  analogy  ends.  The  life 
history  has  passed  from  stage  to  stage  with 
a  *  death  *  at  each  threshold ;  but  with  us  self- 
consciousness,  mind,  moral  responsibility,  have 
come  into  the  field,  and  they  mean  something. 
The  tendency  has  been  always  toward  the 
supremacy  of  mind,  and  at  last  self-conscious 
mind  has  become  embodied  in  matter.  Here 
we  recognize  development  under  purpose  to 


Discussion  1 09 

a  certain  end,  and  we  see  the  end,  —  self- 
conscious  individuality.  Thus  we  see  that  the 
development  is  to  proceed  along  this  line. 
The  physical  development  has  gone  to  the 
rear.  Now  all  of  this,  I  think,  is  in  your 
book,  or  to  be  read  between  the  lines.  But 
as  I  read  it  I  did  not  find  myself  deriving  any 
help  from  your  analog}',  or  even  referring  to 
it.  I  had  cut  loose  from  it.  It  seems  to  me, 
then,  that  the  whole  point  at  issue,  whether 
self-consciousness  is  to  endure,  is  not  touched 
by  your  analogy,  because  in  past  stages  such 
consciousness  did  not  exist.  All  we  can  say 
upon  that  basis  is  that  certainly  this  stage 
cannot  be  the  end.  There  must  be  another. 
There  it  leaves  us.  To  go  further  we  need 
other  views.  These  other  views  you  use  and 
use  well,  but  you  leave  your  analogy  behind." 

From  another  writer  —  a  man  who  for 
many  years  has  been  a  most  devoted  and  con- 
scientious student  and  teacher  of  the  physical 
sciences  —  comes  a  statement,  much  of  which 
so  nearly  coincides  with  the  above  that  to 
quote  would  be  superfluous.     The  main  point 


no  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

of  significance  in  this  letter,  as  in  the  other, 
is  the  agreement  that  man,  judging  from  his 
Hfe  history, "  may  have  various  modified  exist- 
ences "  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  including 
the  plainly  implied  intimation  that  such  exist- 
ences are  to  be  progressive. 

If  in  this  connection  freedom  were  permis- 
sible to  speak  of  personal  opinions,  motives, 
and  so  forth,  it  might  be  stated  that,  to  the 
mind  of  the  writer,  the  analogy  referred  to 
does  not  seem  to  be  the  strongest  nor  the 
most  convincing  part  of  the  argument  or  sug- 
gestions embodied  in  this  little  volume.  To 
his  apprehension,  there  are  other  parts  as 
suggestive,  if  not  more  so.  Chapters  VI  and 
VII,  "  Of  the  Fundamental  Identity  of  Man 
and  God  "  and  "  Of  the  Origin  and  Evolution 
of  Consciousness,"  are  considered  as,  at  least, 
equally  suggestive.  No  proof  was  attempted. 
All  that  was  claimed  for  any  part  was  that  of 
suggestion  merely.  And  so  this  friendly  crit- 
icism, coming  as  it  does  from  such  high 
sources,  and  in  this  frank  and  kindly  spirit, 
is  most  highly  appreciated.    This  is  especially 


Discussion  1 1 1 

true  inasmuch  as  it  expresses  more  fully  what 
has  been  less  clearly  indicated  by  a  few  re- 
views, suggestive  of  a  slight  misapprehension 
of  the  purpose  and  purport  of  the  argument 
as  a  whole. 

It  is  freely  admitted  that  one  may  stand  on 
higher  ground  than  that  of  a  mere  analogy  or 
series  of  analogies ;  that,  to  many,  such  may 
seem  almost  a  hindrance.  There  are  those, 
however,  and  perhaps  a  larger  number,  who 
are  impressed  most  by  such  views.  They  are 
thus,  it  may  be,  led  to  catch  a  hint  of  the 
underlying  purpose  in  Nature.  But  with  the 
intuitionist,  the  conditions  are  otherwise.  He 
stands  upon  a  plane  of  being  where  the 
master  -  word  of  science  —  evolution  —  does 
not  mean  as  much  as  it  does  to  many. 

One  of  the  objects  aimed  at  in  the  volume 
was  to  yoke  the  analogies  and  intuitions  to- 
gether, in  the  belief  that  true  analogies  and 
true  intuitions  are  not  antagonistic.  There 
should  be  harmony,  and,  it  is  believed,  there 
is  harmony,  and  relationship,  between  all  the 
facts  of    human  history  and  present  being. 


112  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

More  than  this ;  it  is  assumed  that  our  ideals 
are  real  forecasts  and  foreshadowings,  the 
evidence  and  assurance  that  proclaim  the 
evolution  of  the  future.  This  must  seem  all 
the  more  clear,  however,  if  it  can  be  demon- 
strated that  these  ideals  are  in  harmony  with 
science  and  based  upon  its  foundation  facts ; 
if  it  can  be  made  apparent  that  these  ideals 
are  in  accord  with  ''such  a  trend  and  ten- 
dency in  the  past  as  bespeak  a  greater  and 
illimitable  future." 

Certain  biological  students,  who  confine 
themselves  strictly  to  the  immediate  facts  of 
organic  evolution,  seem  to  see  more  that  is 
convincing  in  the  analogies.  And  so,  —  to 
quote  from  a  reviewer,  —  the  "  strength  "  of 
the  whole  argument,  to  such,  "  is  in  its  foun- 
dation upon  accurate  knowledge  of  the  phys- 
iology of  man,  and  its  construction  upon  that 
basis  of  the  spiritual  edifice  of  the  aspiring 
human  soul,  made  for  life  evermore." 

So  much  with  reference  to  the  "  connection 
between  the  first  and  second  parts." 

In  turning  now  to  the  most  important  as- 


Discussion  113 

pact  of  the  question  proper,  let  us  first  note 
a  significant  point  of  agreement  between  the 
two  scientific  teachers  and  writers  who  have 
just  been  quoted.  One  says,  "  He  [the  indi- 
vidual man]  may  have  various  modified  exist- 
ences." The  other  writes,  —  referring  to  the 
analogy,  — "  All  we  can  say  upon  that  point 
is  that  certainly  this  stage  cannot  be  the  end. 
There  must  be  another." 

If  it  be  conceded  that  we  "  may  have  vari- 
ous modified  existences  "  in  the  future,  or  even 
"  another,"  why  not  an  endless  series  of  stages .? 
and  also  always,  as  in  the  past,  an  ever  ex- 
panding and  more  complex  state  or  form  suc- 
ceeding each  preceding  stage  >  The  analogy 
referred  to  certainly  indicates  that  this  is  to 
be  the  case ;  and  here  also  we  as  certainly 
have  a  hint  of  an  ever-unfolding  purpose,  and 
also  of  the  direction  of  the  unfolding. 

This  conviction  is  strengthened  when  we 
catch  even  a  glimpse  of  the  result  of  the  op- 
eration of  those  methods  of  force  that  are 
termed  involution  and  evolution,  and  still  more 
so  as  we  begin  to  apprehend  the  process  of 


114  1^^  Evolution  of  Immortality 

the  action  of  these  two  sources  or  channels 
of  divine  energy. 

In  relation  to  the  question  of  the  continuity 
of  consciousness,  it  must  be  conceded  that  we 
did  bring  into  this  stage  all  the  consciousness 
that  had  been  acquired  or  evolved  during  the 
embryonic  period.  Only  a  biologist,  perhaps, 
can  apprehend  the  nature  or  quality  of  con- 
sciousness here  alluded  to.  Once  recognize, 
however,  that,  "Inherent  in  every  atom  of 
matter  there  is  the  Eternal  Force,  the  Divinity 
which  carries  it  on  and  up  "  ;  that  "  power  and 
purpose  ride  upon  matter  to  the  last  atom," 
and  it  will  be  easier  to  perceive  that  each  cell 
that  constitutes  an  organism  of  any  kind  pos- 
sesses a  degree  of  independent  psychic  life  or 
sentiency  that  may  be  considered  as  the  sub- 
stratum of  the  consciousness  that  is  manifested 
by  the  aggregation  of  cells  composing  the  em- 
bryo. The  wonderful  and  complex  manifesta- 
tions of  psychic  life  in  even  micro-organic  forms 
fall  little  short  of,  and  are  hard  to  distinguish 
from,  consciousness.  But  if  we  admit  the 
necessity  of  dividing  the  process  of  develop- 


Discussion  1 1  $ 

ment  of  consciousness  into  a  series  of  stages 
consistent  with  present  powers  of  apprehend- 
ing phenomena,  the  classification  may  be  stated 
as  follows :  living  matter,  psychic  life,  con- 
sciousness, which  in  turn  becomes  the  substra- 
tum of  self-consciousness.  Here  we  have  a 
glimpse  of  the  various  steps  of  our  own  his- 
tory, connecting  the  present  stage  with  that 
represented  or  expressed  in  the  germal  state. 
But  it  should  be  remembered  that  these  divis- 
ions are  more  arbitrary  than  real ;  that  no  act- 
ual or  exact  lines  of  separation  can  be  traced. 
It  is  rather  a  growth,  a  merging  of  each  into 
the  succeeding. 

Sentiency  is  first  manifest  in  free  proto- 
plasm. Reference  is  here  made  to  the  germ- 
plasma  of  the  primitive  cell  or  ovum  ;  in  other 
words,  to  young  or  forming  ova  before  fertiliza- 
tion, and  even  before  it  may  be  said  that  they 
have  evolved  for  themselves  "  bodies."  In  this 
stage  they  present  the  general  features  of  amoe- 
boid cells.  But  even  here,  sentiency  appears, 
constituting  a  foreshadowing,  a  prophecy  of 
what  we  recognize  as  consciousness  and  ego- 


Ii6  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

istic  individuality.  It  will  be  noticed,  also, 
that  the  expression  used,  a  sentence  or  two 
back,  is  manifest^  not  origin.  For  sensation, 
wherever  found,  is,  in  the  last  analysis,  an  in- 
ward effect  of  external  causes ;  the  subjective 
state  resulting  from  creative  objective  realities. 
"  Universal  spirit  is  cause,  universal  matter  is 
effect."  But  it  will  be  essentially  correct  to 
say  that  protoplasm  is  the  seat  of  conscious- 
ness. The  nervous  structure^  were  it  void  of 
protoplasm,  would  manifest  no  sentiency.  The 
nerves  embody  the  sentient  agent  —  the  pro- 
toplasm. Or,  rather,  it  would  be  more  accu- 
rate to  say  that  they  become  the  body  through 
which,  later  on  in  the  process  of  protoplasmic 
evolution,  sentiency  and  consciousness  are  man- 
ifested ;  for  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  history 
of  ova,  before  any  nervous  structure  is  evolved, 
the  germ-plasma  of  the  nucleus  of  the  cell  rep- 
resents in  itself  a  very  intricate  microcosm, 
the  distinctive  constituents  of  which  are  the 
chromatin  elements,  a  system  of  strands,  coils, 
or  loops  which  preserve  a  very  thorough  defi- 
niteness  and  whose  essential  behavior  is  — 


Discussion  1 1 7 

mark  the  fact  —  like  that  of  minute  individ- 
ualities, exhibiting,  strangely  enough,  "  an  alto- 
gether marvelous  architectural  function." 

A  further  very  striking  fact  is  that,  in  this 
state,  there  is  manifest  in  the  protoplasm  a 
freedom  of  movement  and  a  sentient  activity 
which  do  not  exist  after  it  has  built  for  itself 
a  body.  It  may  be  said  that  it  seems  to  de- 
scend into  matter  for  the  purpose  of  repro- 
ducing itself,  or  for  self-amplification,  in  order 
to  rise  to  a  higher  plane  of  life  that  stretches 
away  before  its  inherent  potentialities.  To 
quote  late  joint  authors :  "  So  it  is  with  ova, 
which  though  at  first  often  resembling  various 
forms  of  amoeboid  cells,  tend  more  or  less 
quickly  to  pass  into  the  encysted  phase.  The 
protoplasm  no  longer  flows  out  in  irregular 
ever-changing  processes,  but  is  gathered  up 
into  a  sphere,  rounded  off,  and  surrounded  by 
a  more  or  less  definite  envelope.  This  tran- 
sition, from  a  state  of  relative  equilibrium  be- 
tween activity  and  passivity,  to  one  in  which 
passivity  undoubtedly  preponderates,  is  asso- 
ciated with  an  increase  of  nutriment  and  re- 


Ii8  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

serve  products.  The  ovum  feeds,  becomes 
heavy  with  stored  capital,  becomes  less  active, 
and  in  consequence  more  encysted." 

Among  the  first  phenomena  exhibited  by 
the  fertilized  germ-cells,  or  ova,  is  that  of  a 
division  into  two  main  lines  of  developments, 
—  that  of  body-building  and  that  of  reproduc- 
tion ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  of  body  cells  and 
that  of  reproductive  cells.  Hence  we  have,  at 
the  very  outset,  a  wonderfully  suggestive  fact 
relative  to  the  probabilities  of  individual  as  well 
as  of  racial  evolution.  As  the  result  of  recent 
biological  investigations,  observers  seem  to  be 
rapidly  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  the  germ- 
cells  are  not  the  product  of  the  body,  as  has 
been  supposed,  — "  at  least  not  in  their  most 
essential  part,  the  specific  germ  plasma."  On 
the  other  hand  there  exists  almost  conclusive 
evidence  that  there  is  an  immortal  chain  of 
sex-elements  from  generation  to  generation,  in 
all  essential  ways  not  unlike  that  found  in  the 
life  of  protozoa,  where  there  is  no  body,  and 
consequently  no  death.  "  Natural  death  occurs 
only  among  multicellular  organisms,  the  single- 


Discussion  119 

celled  forms  escape  it."  "  Death,  we  may  thus 
say,  is  the  price  paid  for  a  body."  Neverthe- 
less, it  is  to  the  body-forming  process  of  organic 
evolution  that  we  are  to  look  for  biological 
evidence  of  individual  persistence. 

In  human  development  the  process  has  been 
"  from  undifferentiated  protoplasm  on  the  one 
hand  to  undifferentiated  protoplasm  on  the 
other  " ;  from  the  germ-plasma  of  the  germ- 
cell  to  the  gray  matter  of  the  brain,  on  the 
material  side,  and  from  cell  sentiency  to  self- 
consciousness,  on  the  spiritual  side  of  being. 
Hence  the  higher  state  of  egoistic  life  and  con- 
sciousness comes  to  birth  in  and  through  the 
evolved  protoplasm  found  in  the  human  brain, 
the  gray  matter.  The  original  germ-plasma 
feeds  on,  or  appropriates,  nutrient  matter,  thus 
segmenting  or  amplifying  itself,  and  storing  up 
the  product  in  the  brain  cavity  of  the  body 
which  it  has  evolved.  And  here,  like  a  plate 
of  metal  prepared  for  the  storage  of  electricity, 
the  elaborated  protoplasm  is  capable  of  appro- 
priating, storing,  individuating  from  those  spir- 
itual qualities  which  environ  it  on  every  side 


I20  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

and  which  press  down  upon  it  with  the  con- 
stancy of  a  Divine  Love.  Thus  protoplasm 
per  se,  not  "  bodies,"  would  seem  to  be  the 
matrix,  the  womb,  in  which  the  inherent  resi- 
dent forces  of  the  sex-elements,  supplemented 
by  environing  influences,  elaborate  and  bring 
to  birth  ego.  Marvelous  as  is  cell  sentiency, 
more  marvelous  still  is  egoistic-  or  self-con- 
sciousness. If,  before  the  phenomena  exhib- 
ited by  the  former,  we  stand  in  awe  and  wonder, 
here  we  are  speechless. 

True  it  is  that,  during  the  embryonic  period, 
self-consciousness  had  not  become  a  part  of 
our  being.  It  had  not  awakened  from  its  sub- 
merged, prenatal,  gestative  slumbering  in  the 
great  womb  of  Nature.  It  had  not  and  did 
not  come  to  birth  for  some  years  after  physical 
birth.  It  may,  however,  be  assumed  with  great 
positiveness  that  the  various  manifestations 
that  are  characteristic  of  the  later  stages  of 
embryonic  life,  and  which  I  have  termed  em- 
bryonic consciousness,  constitute  a  forecast  of 
the  advent  of  ego ;  and  that  when  it  came  we 
experienced  spiritual  if irtk,  a.nd  began  to  live 


Discussion  121 

in  a  spiritual  world.  We  then,  for  the  first 
time,  apprehended  or  discovered  our  own  per- 
sonal identity,  and  began  to  "  retire  into  our- 
selves and  become  conscious  of  our  own  nature 
and  of  its  high  destiny."  Before  this  event 
every  sense  of  want  or  need  related  simply  and 
solely  to  the  physical. 

Up  to  self-conscious  man,  development  was 
guided  purely  by  the  sense  of  physical  needs. 
No  animal  had  an  instinct,  a  passion,  a  propen- 
sity, or  appetite  which  did  not  have  reference 
to  physical  sustenance,  defense,  or  propaga- 
tion. But  with  man  as  a  self-conscious  being 
comes  an  enormous  over-plus  of  powers,  if  for 
the  accomplishment  of  such  ends  only.  This 
fact  should  have  recognition  and  be  accorded  its 
full  weight  of  suggestion  and  significance.  It 
not  only  introduces  one  into  a  new  and  hereto- 
fore unrealized  world  of  being,  but  points  out 
the  course  of  future  development.  Heretofore 
consciousness  was  directed  outward.  Now,  to 
the  external  world  is  added  the  internal,  and 
he  finds  that  the  latter  is,  really,  his  own  world. 
He  learns  that  "  consciousness  is  subjective  ; 


122  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

knowledge  is  objective."  He  begins  to  realize 
the  significance  and  grandeur  of  the  thought 
of  the  seer  and  poet,  which  led  him  to  exclaim  : 

"  Oh,  mighty  love  I  man  is  one  world, 
And  hath  another  to  attend  him." 

At  the  moment  of  self-consciousness  our 
separation  from  the  merely  physical  began. 
Before  that  moment  we  were  the  subjects, 
chiefly,  of  such  physical  forces  as  relate  to 
the  mineral  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  and 
were  spiritual  beings  only  in  a  potential  sense. 
From  that  moment  our  destiny,  to  an  extent 
that  never  existed  before,  rested  in  our  own 
hands.  We  then  became  responsible  beings, 
and  could  choose  our  environment,  or,  at  least, 
react  upon  it,  and  make  it  subservient  to  our 
own  conscious  ends.  We  could  then  select  — 
a  function  transcending  physical  nature,  and 
peculiar  solely  to  those  organisms  which  have 
risen  above  the  merely  physical ;  we  could  se- 
lect forms  of  sustenance  that  are  conducive  to 
either  the  lower  or  higher  life,  the  material  or 
spiritual  states  of  being. 

At  that  very  moment  we  became  "  new 


Disciission  123 

creatures,"  indeed  and  in  fact.  If  "  old  things  " 
had  not  altogether  "passed  away,"  a  new  ele- 
ment, a  new  force,  came  to  birth  in  our  being, 
—  that  of  self-will,  the  power  of  self-determina- 
tion, the  sense  of  relationship  and  responsibil- 
ity. "  The  moment  the  first  trace  of  conscious 
intelligence  is  introduced,  we  have  a  set  of 
phenomena  which  materialism  can  in  nowise 
account  for,"  says  John  Fiske.  With  self-con- 
sciousness awakened  in  our  being,  a  new  day, 
a  new  world,  broke  upon  our  almost  affrighted 
vision.  The  momentous  realities  of  our  being 
began  to  dawn  upon  us,  engrossing  the  mind 
with  fitful  images  of  Hfe's  true  meaning.  It 
then  began  to  dawn  upon  our  minds  that  we 
had  come  from  the  eternal  past ;  that  into  eter- 
nity we  could  trace  our  inheritance.  We  dis- 
covered with  amazement  that,  potentially  or  in 
embryonic  form,  we  existed  in  the  fire-mist  or 
nebula,  in  even  that "  oneness  "  of  ethereal  sub- 
stance before  differentiation  began.  But  now 
at  last  our  hour  strikes  and  we  stand,  in  awe 
and  wonder,  an  "  I,"  a  j^^-conscious  individ- 
uality, trying  to  discern  the  nature  of  the  re- 


124  '^^^  Evolution  of  Immortality 

lationship  we  sustain  to  the  wondrous  forces 
and  kindred  associations  that  encompass  us 
on  every  side. 

What  is  this  if  not  a  new  birth,  the  vestibule 
into  the  world  of  spiritual  being  ?  The  process 
of  development  is  seen  to  have  been  from 
homogeneity  to  heterogeneity ;  from  oneness 
to  an  infinite  variety  of  forms  of  expression  and 
states  of  being ;  through  crude  form  and  a  low 
order  of  life  in  the  primitive  mineral  world,  to 
form,  intelligence,  and  conscious  activity  in 
the  organic,  culminating,  in  the  genus  homOy  in 
self-conscious  individuality  as  the  pinnacle  of 
progress.  During  the  long  ages  of  the  past, 
preceding  the  advent  of  man,  all  forms  of  or- 
ganic life  were  largely,  if  not  entirely,  passive, 
subject  to  creative  external  forces.  But  now 
at  last  an  organism  appears  that  is  self-assert- 
ive, possessing  creative  powers  and  energies 
which  distinguish  it  from  all  preceding  forms, 
thus  miniaturing  in  its  own  being,  in  some  de- 
gree at  least,  those  qualities  which  character- 
ize the  Source  from  which  it  sprang. 

More  than  this.     Man  not  only  recognizes 


Discussion  125 

that  he  has  acquired  these  powers  and  quali- 
ties, but  he  also  conceives  and  ever  aspires  to 
the  possession  of  still  larger,  of  even  unlimited 
capabilities.  He  has  already,  in  a  mental  sense, 
risen  to  an  infinite  number  of  material  worlds 
which  inhabit  space,  analyzing  their  physical 
elements  and  qualities,  measuring  their  move- 
ments, and  noting  mutual  relations  to  other 
worlds.  Nor  is  this  all.  He  is  peering  into 
the  occult,  into  the  noumenal,  the  subjective, 
the  spiritual  world.  And  pressing  close  upon 
his  dreams  and  visions,  he  has  made  and  is 
making  marvelous  progress  in  gaining  the 
mastery  of  those  material  forces  which,  un- 
mastered,  impede  his  onward  march,  and  is 
demonstrating  more  and  ever  more  the  possi- 
bility of  mind  rising  to  the  plane  of  complete 
supremacy  over  matter,  thus  indicating  the 
course,  purpose,  and  end  of  his  being. 

But  here,  if  not  before,  critics  may  say : 
"  What  has  this  to  do  with  your  analogy  ?  We 
admit  that  the  stage  of  self-conscious  individ- 
uality has  been  reached ;  but  in  past  stages 
such  consciousness  did  not  exist.    What  right. 


126  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

therefore,  have  we  to  infer  that  we  shall  take 
over,  into  the  next  stage,  this  consciousness 
without  break  of  continuity  ?  We  have  left 
behind  many,  if  not  all,  of  the  things  which 
belonged  to  the  past  stage.  Why,  in  the  com- 
ing change,  should  we  take  with  us  anything 
of  this,  and  why  should  self-consciousness  be 
the  exception  ? " 

I  reply  that  a  right  to  such  inference  is  based 
upon  the  analogy  in  question.  In  tracing  the 
history  of  personal  consciousness  we  must  not 
overlook  its  antecedent  stages,  nor  the  relation 
of  consciousness  to  the  sense  organs,  which  are 
evolved  during  the  embryonic  stage.  The  eye, 
the  ear,  and  all  the  other  sense  organs  of  an 
embryo  certainly  have  no  explanation  of  being 
if  they  are  not  to  be  considered  a  prophecy  of 
an  existence  beyond  the  embryo  state.  They 
are  of  no  sort  of  use  to  the  embryo  as  an  em- 
bryo. Their  real  significance  is  made  plain 
only  as  we  perceive  the  relationship  that  exists 
between  their  function  and  the  present  realiza- 
tion of  a  higher  form  of  life  and  consciousness 
in  this  stage  of  development.     They  are  now 


Discussion  127 

seen  to  be  the  medium  by  which  the  facts  of 
the  universe  are  transmuted  into  individual 
consciousness. 

Recall  the  fact,  and  bear  in  mind  its  true 
import,  that  we  brought  these  sense  organs 
with  us  when  we  came  from  the  embryonic 
state  into  this;  also  that,  before  this  event, 
they  had  begun  in  a  vague  and  indefinite  man- 
ner to  indicate  their  function,  and  to  hint  at 
a  larger  consciousness  as  a  result  of  their  joint 
functional  activity.  Had  we  not  done  so,  where 
would  have  been  the  possibility  of  self-con- 
sciousness for  us  in  this  stage  }  In  proto- 
organic  life,  where  recent  investigations  bring 
to  view  such  wonderful  phenomena,  there  is  no 
central  nervous  structure  whatever,  and  the 
subtratum  of  powers  of  perception  and  voli- 
tional activity  (actual  movements)  seem  to  be 
simply  undifferentiated  protoplasm. 

This  is  true  also  of  the  primitive  cell  stage 
of  our  own  life  history.  It  possessed  and  man- 
ifested  a  psychic  life,  a  sentiency,  which  is  the 
more  or  less  common  attribute  of  all  protoplas- 
mic bodies,  powers  of  perception,  and  volitional 


128  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

activities  that  are  based  upon  this  perceptive 
quality.  These  may  be  the  result  of  simple 
physiological  processes,  but  if  so,  they  must 
even  then  be  considered  as,  at  least,  the  sub- 
stratum of  consciousness,  the  preceding  step 
in  the  organic  series  which  moves  on  to  con- 
sciousness, finally  ending  or  eventuating  in  self- 
consciousness,  —  a  difference  in  degree  and  not 
of  kind.  But  if  we  confine  our  attention  to 
the  protoplasm  or  germ-plasma  of  the  cell 
simply,  we  shall  find  little  enough,  surely,  to 
indicate  or  foretell  sense  organs  and  the  ac- 
companying manifestations  of  consciousness  as 
the  crowning  result  of  embryonic  evolution. 

But  these  significant  results  nevertheless 
came  about,  being  evolved  from  the  germal 
protoplasm,  and  are  pregnant  with  promise, 
bespeaking  still  more  wonderful  facts  yet  to 
come.  Mysterious  and  far  reaching  are  the 
forces  that  are  involved  therein !  But  there 
can  be,  surely,  no  "break  of  continuity"  in 
the  process  that  connects  the  cell  life  even 
with  that  of  the  self-conscious  individual  in 
the  present  stage  of  existence. 


Discussion  1 29 

If  man  to-day  does  not  possess,  or  is  not 
evolving,  spiritual  sense  organs,  he  certainly 
has  developed  significant  powers  of  spiritual 
apprehension  that  are  not  essential  to  him  as 
a  physical  being  merely  !  This  being  the  case, 
why  should  not  the  fact  be  recognized  as  cor- 
responding to  the  fact  of  sense  organs  in  the 
embryonic  state,  and  be  accorded  the  same 
import  ?  For  what  purpose  are  these  spiritual 
powers  evolved  to  this  point  in  our  being  if 
they  are  not  to  realize  a  full  fruition  in  some 
good  time  ahead  ?  They  surely  have  no  neces- 
essary  explanation  in  any  fact  of  physical 
existence  alone.  We  find  in  our  organism 
numerous  rudimentary  organs  that  relate  to 
the  history  of  our  organic  evolution,  way-marks 
by  the  road  up  which  we  have  come.  In  ad- 
dition, there  is  this  other  fact  that  can  be 
understood  or  explained  only  as  it  is  conceived 
to  be  an  index-board  pointing  out  the  way  of 
future  progress. 

There  is  surely  no  "  break  "  in  the  chain  of 
continuity  that  exists  between  the  sense  organs 
of  the  embryonic  state  and  self-consciotisness 


130  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

as  now  existing  in  this  stage.  Consciousness 
of  a  certain  form  existed,  or  was  evolved,  dur- 
ing the  past  existence,  —  the  prenatal,  —  and 
was  brought  with  us  into  this  one,  without  loss 
or  immediate  change.  This  consciousness  has 
now  developed  into  self-consciousness.  Why, 
in  truth,  should  it  be  left  behind,  when  we  pass 
on  to  the  next  stage .?  Would  not  analogy  im- 
ply that  it  is  to  go  with  us,  as  the  sense  organs 
and  embryonic  consciousness  came  with  us 
from  that  stage  of  life  into  this.? 

Again,  does  it  appear  that  we  really  '*  lost " 
or  "  left  behind  "  anything  that  relates  to  our 
essential  identity,  in  coming  from  the  past 
stage  into  this  }  The  vehicle  is  changing  con- 
stantly, it  is  true.  But  the  vehicle,  or  form 
merely,  does  not  constitute  the  individual. 
Individuality  is  allied  with  form  and  expresses 
itself  through  form,  but  itself  must  be  appre- 
hended as  something  else  than  form.  And 
so  an  endless  series  of  forms,  or  the  disap- 
pearance of  it  altogether,  does  not  dispose 
of  individuality.  When  the  law  of  change 
results  in  new  forms,  something  goes  on.     Is 


Discussion  131 

it  not  the  life-principle  ?  The  vital  principle 
within  may  be  traced  back  in  an  unbroken 
line  of  continuity  into  an  infinite  past.  It 
is  identical  with  that  which  is  apparent  in  the 
earliest  geological  ages.  It  is  identical  with 
the  force  that  builds  up  the  inorganic  crystal. 
"  Its  constant  tendency  is  toward  the  produc- 
tion of  more  complex  and  highly  organized  and 
differentiated  forms  of  life."  Life  is  the  man- 
ifestation of  the  divine  upward  impulse  that 
inheres  in  Nature,  constituting  its  organic 
energy.  It  is,  throughout  the  whole  organic 
series,  the  determining  cause  or  antecedent 
of  form,  as  function  precedes  and  determines 
the  formation  of  organs.  In  the  primitive  or- 
ganic world,  —  micro-organic  life,  —  the  func- 
tions of  locomotion,  prehension,  nutrition, 
propagation,  perception,  and  so  forth,  were 
exhibited  long  before  special  organs  were  dif- 
ferentiated for  the  purpose  of  a  more  extended 
achievement  along  these  various  lines.  The 
acquirement  of  these  special  organs  was  cer- 
tainly no  loss.  They  were  the  means,  rather, 
of  a  larger  life. 


132  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

There  is  relation  here  to  consciousness .  The 
upward  impulse  still  manifests  itself.  We  are 
constantly  aspiring  and  struggling  to  acquire 
new  powers,  new  experiences,  new  elements  of 
being  as  a  means  of  enlarging  and  expanding 
our  consciousness.  Thus  the  present  is  larger 
than  the  past.  But  the  present  moment  in- 
cludes and  enwraps  all  of  the  past.  The  past 
is  lost  only  in  the  sense  that  it  is  swallowed 
up  by  the  present.  It  has  entered  into  new 
combinations  of  experience,  resulting  in  new 
forms  of  consciousness,  it  is  true.  But  it  is 
all  here  in  the  now.  If  to  H2O  we  add  an- 
other molecule  of  oxygen,  we  have  a  new  chem- 
ical combination,  H2O2  ;  but  the  water,  or  the 
former  combination,  is  not  lost ;  it  is  simply 
merged  into,  and  becomes  a  part  of,  a  new 
form,  which  is  termed  hydrogen  per-oxide.  It 
is  water  still,  but  with  a  plus.  So  with  our 
consciousness.  A  plus  is  ever  being  added. 
Every  new  experience,  every  new  observation, 
adds  a  new  element  to  our  consciousness,  mod- 
ifying it,  enlarging  it,  giving  it  new  powers 
and  forms. 


Discussion  133 

If  it  is  suggested  here  that  this  is  practical 
annihilation,  I  can  only  say  that  it  does  not 
appear,  to  my  own  mind  at  least,  to  be  so  any 
further  than  as  it  may  be  regarded  an  annihi- 
lation of  any  given  rigidly  fixed  state  or  stage 
of  being.  It  surely  implies  an  ever  changing 
form  of  existence,  but  no  annihilation  of  the 
principle  that  determines  and  controls  the 
changes  in  form,  nor  of  the  consciousness  tJiat 
is  allied  with^  and  is  the  cottstant  and  most 
marked  expression  of,  this  living,  determining 
force  or  power. 

The  real  meaning  of  life,  as  of  evolution, 
is,  "continuous  progressive  change."  Asso- 
ciated with  life  is  not  only  a  passion  of  being, 
but  of  forever  becoming. 

And  would  we  have  it  otherwise.?  If  an 
embryo  might  be  considered  as  wishing  to 
remain  always  an  embryo,  or  a  child  always 
a  child,  we  should  say  that  this  was  because 
of  a  limited  vision  or  range  of  perception  of 
the  real  meaning  and  grandeur  of  life.  Shall 
a  man,  then,  whose  apprehension  of  the  pos- 
sibilities of  his  being  has  passed  beyond  the 


134         ^'^^  Evolution  of  Immortality 

embryonic  and  childish  stage,  wish  to  remain 
always  simply  a  man  ?  Or  should  he  rather, 
looking  back  along  the  line  of  his  ascent  and 
noting  its  constantly  expanding  life  from  the 
first  moment  of  its  faintest  tracing,  bravely 
and  manfully,  trustingly  and  confidently  face 
the  future,  resting  in  the  conviction  —  based 
upon  the  manifest  purpose  as  indicated  in  his 
life  history  —  that  "  the  earnest  expectation 
of  the  creation  waiteth  for  the  revealing  of 
the  sons  of  God  "  ? 

It  will  thus  appear  that,  at  least  to  the  ap- 
prehension of  the  author,  we  do  take  over  into 
each  new  stage  all  the  consciousness  that  has 
accrued  in  these  past  stages,  "  without  break 
of  continuity."  And  as  we  have  done  this  in 
the  past,  so  we  are  still  doing  now,  day  by  day, 
from  one  period  of  our  present  life  to  another, 
—  as  from  youth  to  early  manhood  and  woman- 
hood, and  from  that  point  to  mature  life.  And 
just  here  is  where  the  "analogy"  possesses 
force  and  promise.  It  is  the  consciousness  of 
our  younger  life  —  our  yesterdays  —  that  alone 
remains  with  us  and  is  a  part  of  us  to-day. 


Discussion  135 

Everything  else,  save  the  life-principle  and  the 
potencies  enwrapped  therein,  is  gone.  The 
form  and  the  material  combinations  that  com- 
posed it  are  not  here  to-day  ;  but  the  conscious- 
ness, the  personality,  the  individuality,  remains. 
There  is  no  break  of  continuity  in  it.  This 
remains  and  is  ever  taking  on  larger  propor- 
tions and  new  accruing  elements,  as  the  result 
of  the  ongoing  life  of  conscious  act,  experience, 
and  observation.  Even  more  than  this  may 
be  claimed.  This  consciousness  is  not  only  the 
result  of  our  own  past  experience,  but  of  the 
experience  of  the  whole  human  race,  conscious 
and  otherwise,  as  well.  This  is  all  stored  up 
somewhere  in  our  being,  ready  to  be  awakened 
into  action  by  any  bent  of  corresponding  cir- 
cumstances, constituting  an  inheritance  out  of 
all  the  life  that  has  been  lived  before  us,  to 
which  no  age,  no  human  being,  has  failed  to 
add  a  contribution. 

A  fine  expression  is  given  to  this  thought 
by  George  Eliot,  in  the  following : 

"  Lay  the  young  eagle  in  what  nest  you  will, 
The  cry  and  swoop  of  eagles  overhead 


136  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

Vibrate  prophetic  in  its  kindred  frame 

And  make  it  spread  its  wings  and  poise  itself 

For  the  eagle's  flight." 

If  to  the  prosaic  scientist  this  seems  "  tran- 
scendental," it  need  only  be  said  here  that  — 
in  the  realm  of  mentality  —  thoughts,  senti- 
ments, consciousness  are  surely  nearer  real 
things  than  any  form  or  combination  of  so- 
called  matter  that  constitutes  the  human  or- 
ganism, the  temporary  vehicle  of  such  realities. 
To  livCf  and  the  consequent  consciousness,  is 
the  end  and  purpose  of  being.  Life  is  the 
only  real.  It  came  from  God,  without  break 
of  continuity,  up  through  the  submerged,  phys- 
ical, prenatal  state  to  the  self-conscious  and 
therefore  spiritual  stage,  and  thus  has  arrived 
at  "  conscious  individuality." 

Wherever  there  is  life,  there  intelligence  is 
also.  Life  and  sentiency  are  correlative  terms, 
each  implying  the  other.  The  Divine  Intelli- 
gence which  is  immanent  in  all  forms  of  life, 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  is  markedly 
manifest  in  this  universally  progressive  unfold- 
ing of  organisms.     '*  The  same  intelligence 


Disctission  137 

which  in  an  unconscious  form  guides  all  organic 
formation  and  all  motor  instincts,  finally  be- 
comes conscious  in  the  brains  of  the  higher 
animals,  and  conscious  of  itself  in  man."  The 
Universal  Life  differentiates  itself  into  an  infi- 
nite variety  of  forms,  begetting,  reproducing, 
evolving,  individuating  ceaselessly.  Hence  the 
connection  of  the  Infinite  with  the  finite.  In 
man  as  an  individual,  as  well  as  in  man  a  genus, 
has  arisen,  has  evolved,  the  power  to  apprehend 
this  relation  of  sonship ;  and  thus  is  seen  the 
purpose  involved  in  the  law,  the  way,  the 
processes  of  Nature.  By  the  divine  right  of 
our  inheritaiue  we  are  immortal.  Being  indi- 
vidualized as  the  necessary  outcome  of  those 
processes  of  Nature  that  are  fundamental,  in- 
herent, and  universal,  self  -  consciousness  be- 
comes the  evidence  and  assurance  of  having 
attained,  by  the  natural  processes  of  evolution, 
the  power  to  project  ourselves  into  other  worlds 
than  that  of  the  material  or  physical. 

More  than  this.  It  is  the  power,  the  essen- 
tial requisite,  by  which  eternal  persistence  is 
made  possible.     It  is  the  way,  the  open  door, 


138  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

to  spiritual  realities,  and  shows  us  that  spirit- 
uality is  indeed  the  natural  outcome  of  the 
very  laws  of  man's  being,  and  that  it  is  its  own 
ground  of  certitude. 

More  life  and  larger  life,  then,  is  what  we 
crave  and  aspire  to  attain.  And  all  of  life  and 
experience,  here  and  hereafter,  can  only  tend, 
ultimately  at  least,  to  intensify  individuality, 
and  so  separate  us  more  and  ever  more  from 
physical  nature,  giving  to  mind  —  the  ego,  the 
real  man  —  that  supremacy  over  matter  which 
characterizes  spirit  and  renders  it  capable  of 
an  independent  existence.  We  may  thus  come 
to  see  that  truth  and  righteousness  and  love  and 
aspiration  and  all  spiritual  qualities  are  verities, 
and  from  necessity  eternal ;  that  we  may  incor- 
porate these  quahties  into  our  own  being,  and 
that,  so  far  as  they  live  in  us  or  we  in  them,  we 
cannot  die ;  that,  therefore,  we  may  now  enter 
into  immortal  life ;  that  it  may  be  no  longer 
a  conviction  merely,  but  an  experience,  a  life. 
Here,  it  would  seem,  there  is  no  room  for  doubt. 

"  What  is  excellent, 
As  God  lives,  is  permanent." 


Disctission  139 

The  full  import  of  the  terms  "  self-conscious- 
ness "  and  "  self-conscious  individuality,"  as 
used  in  this  connection,  may  be  granted  this 
further  word : 

If  self-consciousness  is  to  be  considered  as 
the  evidence  of  spiritual  birth,  the  vestibule  to 
the  spiritual  world,  this  does  not  imply  that 
self-consciousness  is  the  ultimate  of  spiritual 
life.  It  should  rather  be  considered  as  an 
intermediate  step  from  the  lower  forms  of 
conscious  life  on  the  one  hand,  from  which 
the  individual  has  arisen  or  awakened,  to  that 
higher  and  infinitely  more  sublime  unconscious 
life  on  the  other.  A  child  at  birth  has  before 
him  the  task  of  learning  to  walk.  In  order 
to  achieve  the  power  of  walking,  he  must  put 
forth  conscious  effort.  When  he  has  accom- 
plished his  task  to  perfection,  he  may  walk 
unconsciously.  And  so  with  man  as  a  self- 
conscious  individual ;  has  he  not  a  divine  task 
before  him  of  learning  to  walk  uprightly  in  all 
the  ways  of  a  moral  and  spiritual  life  worthy 
of  the  divinest  ambition  conceivable  to  men 
or  gods  ?     To  incorporate  in  his  being  all  the 


140  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

spiritual  qualities  so  that  they  may  spontane- 
ously well  up  into  action  independent  of  con- 
scious effort,  is  not,  certainly,  an  ideal  beyond 
conception.  Such  an  existence,  such  a  state 
of  being,  would  be,  in  its  very  essence,  immor- 
tal. Such  a  life  would  be  as  permanent  as  are 
the  qualities  it  embodies.  It  would  have  risen 
into  the  Unconscious  Eternal  Life.  It  would 
be  nothing  less  than  the  incarnation  of  the 
infinite  in  the  finite  soul.  . 

Is  this  impossible  to  man }  Yes,  if  this  life 
is  to  be  the  end.  No,  a  thousand  times  no,  if 
his  entrance  here  upon  the  threshold  of  strug- 
gle for  spiritual  attainment  is  accorded  its  true 
meaning  and  significance. 

"  A  man's  reach  should  exceed  his  grasp, 
Or  what 's  a  heaven  for  ? " 

In  a  filial  co-operation  of  the  finite  will  with 
the  Divine  Will,  our  highest,  truest  self  is 
found,  not  lost.  Self-conscious  individuality 
thus  secures  at-one-ment  with  Infinite  Exist- 
ence and  eternal  verities.  Self -consciousness 
thus  rises  to  Selflessness.  Not  in  the  sense  of 
parting  with  the  consciousness  or  sense  of  self 


Discussion  141 

(which  would  indeed  be  "  like  taking  an  eter- 
nal farewell  of  the  soul  "),  for  "  consciousness 
is  the  necessary  attribute  of  mental  action  "  ; 
it  is  rather  a  glad  apprehension  of  being  a  vital 
part  of  the  indivisible,  indestructible  whole. 
A  passive  perception  of  divine  qualities  is  thus 
transformed  into  co-operative  activity  toward 
the  accomplishment  of  divine  ends.  The  self 
is  sunk  in  the  Divine  order,  and  a  vital  unity 
is  voluntarily  established  and  immovably  fixed 
between  the  Creator  and  created,  the  Father 
and  child.  Here  is  no  annihilation  of  individ- 
ual finite  lives,  but  a  harmonious  merging  of 
the  true  functional  activity  of  each  individual 
life  in  the  Infinite  Life ;  a  progressive  move- 
ment of  the  individual  toward  the  realization 
of  his  high  destiny. 

"  Man  is  not  God,  but  hath  God's  end  to  serve, 
Somewhat  to  cast  off,  somewhat  to  become. 
Grant  this  ?  —  then  man  must  pass  from  old  to  new, 
From  vain  to  real,  from  mistake  to  fact; 
From  what  once  seemed  good,  to  what  now  proves  best. 
How  could  man  have  progression  otherwise  ? " 


T 


XI 

Aftermath* 

HAT  interest  and  appreciation  should  call 
for  a  new  edition  of  this  little  book,  twenty 
years  after  it  was  written,  the  author  frankly 
admits  is  a  source  of  real  satisfaction.  During 
the  time  mentioned,  many  and  varied  com- 
ments, criticisms,  and  judgments  have  come  to 
his  knowledge  regarding  its  value,  and  from 
widely  different  sources.  In  the  main,  these 
judgments  agree  that  the  volume  contains,  at 
least,  elements  of  suggestiveness  which  give 
it  permanent  value.  This  was  all  that  was 
hoped  for  when  it  was  first  issued,  and  the  fact 
that  it  has  lived  for  twenty  years  is,  in  itself, 
a  vital  testimony  that  it  does  contain  living 
elements  of  truth. 

*  Appendix  to  the  Fourth  Edition  (1906). 


Aftermath  143 

This  being  the  case,  attempt  has  been  made 
to  revise  the  work  only  in  a  minor  degree. 
The  analogies  stand,  and  the  author  to-day- 
wishes  them  to  stand,  substantially  as  they 
were  first  penned.  No  advancement  in  science 
during  these  years  has,  in  his  opinion,  served 
to  weaken  their  validity  or  significance.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  beUeved  that  the  marvel- 
ous advance  in  the  great  world  of  physical 
knowledge,  during  these  wonderful  years,  adds 
reinforcement  and  strength,  in  no  small  degree, 
to  the  conclusions  that  are  drawn  therefrom. 

As  to  the  metaphysics  of  the  book,  more 
than  is  found  in  the  original  text  may  well  be 
said.  Twenty  years  has  brought  about  many 
and  great  changes  in  scientific  data,  not,  how- 
ever, affecting  thought  so  much  in  a  revolu- 
tionary as  in  an  evolutionary  sense. 

The  word  "  matter  "  does  not  mean  to-day 
what  it  meant  even  a  few  years  ago.  This  is 
especially  true  of  the  scientific  interpretation, 
and  is  also  largely  true  as  to  the  popular  con- 
ception. Twenty  years  ago  the  word  "  ether  " 
was  but  little  known ;  and,  even  in  the  scien- 


144  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

tific  world,  it  had  but  an  indefinite  meaning. 
To-day  all  is  changed.  The  world  of  ether  is 
no  longer  a  vague  hypothesis.  It  is  regarded 
as  the  only  real  substance  conceivable  to  the 
scientific  world  ;  and  toward  an  understanding 
of  its  qualities  and  attributes  we,  to-day,  see 
the  great  physicists  of  the  world  directing 
their  chief  interest  and  investigation.  The 
riddle  of  matter,  some  of  them  say,  is  already 
well  solved.  There  now  remains  the  great 
problem  of  world-substance.  Matter,  using 
the  word  in  its  formerly  accepted  sense,  can  no 
longer  be  regarded  as  substance.  It  is,  rather, 
the  phenomena  of  substance,  a  mode  of  the 
energies  inhering  in  substance. 

In  the  strictly  scientific  sense,  there  is  no 
matter  at  all,  but  simply  "energy  in  motion." 
There  is  nothing  in  the  universe  that  is  not  a 
form  of  energy.  Everything  in  it  which  we 
have  been  taught  to  call  matter  can  now  be 
defined  only  in  terms  of  energy.  "  We  have," 
says  a  recent  writer,*  "but  to  concede  the 


*  Professor  S.  Lawrence  Bigelow  (University  of  Mich- 
igan) :  Popular  Science  Monthly,  July,  1906. 


•   1 


Aftermath  145 

logical  sequence  of  modern  reasoning,  all  based 
on  experimental  evidence,  and  the  last  strong- 
hold of  the  materialists  is  carried,  and  we  have 
a  universe  of  energy  in  which  matter  has  no 
necessary  part."  This  is  a  statement  seen  to 
be  so  clearly  true  that  some  of  our  old-time 
"  materialists  "  are  now  classing  themselves 
as  "  energyists  "  instead. 

In  the  light  of  modern  investigations  and 
discoveries,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  all 
forms  of  matter  are  now  known  to  be  reduci- 
ble to  some  form  of  electric  energy.  This 
conclusion  is  reached  and  accepted  as  an  out- 
come of  reliable  laboratory  demonstration.  But 
beyond  this  even,  there  are  to-day  few  if  any 
scientists  in  the  realm  of  physics  who  do  not 
hold  that,  theoretically  at  least,  all  forms  of 
electric  energy  are  reducible  to  some  form  of 
etheric  energy.  Thus,  to-day,  science  itself 
warrants  the  statement  that  matter  is  a  mode 
of  ether-motion,  or  a  mode  of  etheric  energy, 
if  one  likes  that  term  better. 

This  is  not  saying,  however,  that  there  is  no 
objective  fact  external  to  consciousness.     It, 


146  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

rather,  recognizes  the  fact,  but  explains  it  in 
terms  of  energy,  not  in  terms  of  matter  as 
ordinarily  understood.  Using  the  word  matter 
here,  however,  for  a  special  purpose,  in  the 
sense  in  which  it  has  been  generally  under- 
stood, we  may  say  that  there  are  grades  or 
planes  of  matter ;  and  that  each  grade  is  inter- 
fused by  a  finer  substance,  unlike  matter  in 
any  of  its  varied  forms ;  and  that  this  sub- 
stance is  continuous  and  uniformly  present 
throughout  all  space.  From  it,  furthermore, 
arises  the  infinite  variety  of  manifestations 
which  constitute  our  present  phenomenal  world, 
—  the  physical  and  psychical  world  in  which 
we  now  move  and  have  our  being ;  for  the 
ether,  not  matter,  appears  to  be  the  sole  vehicle 
of  every  form  of  energy,  both  known  and  un- 
known. And,  by  the  application  of  the  law  of 
indestructibility,  it  is  coming  to  be  understood, 
so  it  is  claimed,  how  one  form  of  energy  can 
be  transmuted  into  another.  This  means  more 
than  at  first  thought  is  apparent ;  and  it  has 
an  important  bearing  upon  our  theme. 


OF  THE 

r/^WrtJi^RSITY  }     147 

OF 

We  are  not,  it  may  first  be  noted,  bereft  of 
substance  and  left  afloat  in  an  intangible  sea 
of  unstable  energies.  Substance  there  is,  and 
energy ;  the  latter  being  the  manifestation  and 
constant  expression  of  the  former.  And  as 
all  forms  of  matter,  so-called,  are  reducible  to 
some  form  of  etheric  energy,  super-physical  in 
its  nature,  so  the  infinite  forms  of  etheric 
energy,  we  may  reasonably  suppose,  are  reduci- 
ble, finally,  to  an  ultimate,  super-physical  en- 
ergy embodied  in  the  infinite  ocean  of  the 
ultimate  substance  —  the  ether.  If,  however, 
it  suits  one's  thought  better  to  class  the  various 
forms  of  etheric  energy  under  a  single  head 
and  term  it  Ether-Energy,  or  the  energy  that 
inheres  in  and  characterizes  the  one  substance, 
no  real  scientific  objection  can  be  interposed. 
"  There  is  an  infinite  and  eternal  Energy  from 
which  all  things  proceed "  is  only  another 
formulation  of  the  same  essential  deductive 
thought.  In  either  case,  however,  we  must 
not  lose  sight  of  the  substance  in  which  this 
energy  is  embodied.     Heretofore  scientific  in- 


148  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

vestigation  and  the  consequent  modes  of  logical 
deduction  have  been  too  exclusively  engrossed 
in  molecular  motion,  or  the  phenomenal  forms 
of  energy,  overlooking  the  more  important  fact 
—  the  substance  in  which  this  energy  is  embod- 
ied, and  of  which  it  is  an  expression. 

A  rational  concept  of  the  real  unity  of  a 
universe  implies  that  "  Potter  and  clay  "  are 
one ;  implies  "  the  basic  substance  of  a  self- 
created,  self-moving  cosmos,  an  infinite  and 
eternal  entity,"  whose  chief  attributes  as  ob- 
served in  the  phenomena  of  Nature  are  life 
and  consciousness  ;  or,  in  other  words,  "  a  sen- 
tient property  by  virtue  of  which  it  displays 
the  phenomena  which  we  term  life." 

Ether  lives.  "  Yesterday,  to-day,  forever,  it 
is  the  same  exhaustless  well-spring  of  motion, 
beauty,  feeling,  a^nd  life."  Here,  with  all  the 
emphasis  of  the  later  scientific  research  it  may 
be  said,  is  found  the  fundamental,  rational  basis 
for  the  modern  conception  of  "  the  evolution 
of  mind,  its  desire  of  infinite  opportunity,  its 
tendency  to  unlimited  growth,  and  its  hope  of 
immortal  life." 


Aftermath  149 

"  Matter,"  or  that  form  of  energy  which  has 
been  called  matter,  is,  in  a  relative  sense  at 
least,  a  limited  product  from  Nature's  work- 
shop. The  ether  is  infinitely  boundless  in 
extent,  carrying  within  itself  infinite  possibili- 
ties and  potentialities,  which  it  is  evermore 
realizing  through  the  sublime  processes  of 
intelligent  organization  —  organic  evolution. 
And  organic  evolution  presupposes  an  Infinite 
Organic  Entity,  vital,  living,  conscious,  and 
certainly  710  less  than  personal. 

When  the  analysis  of  "  matter  "  is  pushed 
to  the  extreme,  it  is  found  that  "  matter  and 
force  become  confounded,  and  the  only  effect- 
ive reality  remaining  is  the  invisible  ether,  and 
in  the  study  of  its  manifestations  we  must 
seek  the  history  of  the  universe."  This  is  all 
the  more  clear  since  almost  all  our  astronomers 
are  agreed  that  the  material  universe  is  a  finite 
and,  therefore,  limited  system.  "  Since,  then, 
we  have  to  deal  with  a  finite  system,  we  are 
entitled  to  apply  the  laws  which  are  formulated 
by  the  mechanical  theories ;  ...  for  we  see 


150  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

in  the  universe  a  fixed  quantity  of  matter  acted 
upon  according  to  very  definite  laws  by  an 
equal  quantity  of  energy;  here  we  are  con- 
fronted with  a  dynamical  system,  the  trans- 
formations of  which  we  may  investigate  with 
perfect  exactness  according  to  the  mathemat- 
ical processes  applicable  to  mechanics.  So, 
then,  if  it  were  possible  for  us  to  establish  all 
the  formulae  which  at  a  given  moment  repre- 
resent  the  variable  state  of  the  universe,  we 
might  quite  well,  by  an  appropriate  series  of 
calculations,  deduce  therefrom  the  resulting 
state  at  the  moment  immediately  succeed- 
ing, and  so,  step  by  step,  follow  out  all  the 
transformations  to  come.  .  .  .  An  infinite 
intelligence  possessed  by  all  these  formulae, 
representing  the  variable  state  of  the  world, 
.  .  .  would  thus  have  a  perception  of  the 
future;  .  .  .  and  thus  our  limited  mind  can 
conceive  how  the  intelligent  being  might  ac- 
quire a  progressive  vision  of  the  future,  whilst 
undergoing  a  gradual  development  toward  the 
infinite." 

Herein  we  may  catch  a  gHmpse  of  the  sig- 


Aftermath  1 5 1 

nificance  involved  in  the  sublime  processes  of 
organic  evolution  —  the  attainment  of  a  con- 
sciousness whose  sweep  of  vision  knows  no 
past  or  future,  an  eternal  Now. 

All  the  sciences  teach  unvaryingly  that 
energy  apart  from  some  form  of  embodiment 
does  not  exist.  An  atom  of  hydrogen,  for 
instance,  may  be  divided  into  700  or  more 
parts  ;  and  in  the  cell  we  have  several  billions 
of  ions.  Still  each  part  or  ion  exhibits  the 
body  aspect  as  surely  as  the  aspect  of  energy. 
Certain  conclusions  must  inevitably  follow, 
based  upon  these  and  a  multitude  of  other 
facts  known  to  the  scientific  world  to-day. 
But  this  need  not  disturb  certain  phases  of 
world-wide  thought  further  than  to  cause  it  to 
change  its  point  of  view  ;  and  every  change  of 
one's  view-point,  often  enforced  against  the 
will,  means  growth  and  enlargement  of  the 
real  self.  But  in  this  case  it  is  believed  that 
the  change,  when  it  is  more  fully  understood 
in  its  wide  scope  of  implication  and  ramifica- 
tion, will   afford  an   immense   relief   to  the 


152  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

wide-spread  incubus  of  fear  and  dread  heavily 
weighing  down  the  awakening  consciousness 
of  a  large  part  of  the  intelligent  world.  But, 
in  any  event,  the  world  must  learn  to  follow 
where  the  truth  leads.  Only  in  so  following 
is  a  higher,  larger  life  to  be  gained. 

It  may  already  be  said  that  a  deeper  ob- 
servation and  perception  of  the  laws  and 
processes  of  evolution  show  that  there  must 
indeed  be  differentiations  of  form  as  well  as 
of  quality  and  attribute ;  that,  in  fact,  the  two 
go  together. 

"  For  soul  is  form  and  doth  the  body  make." 

And  in  this  process  of  body-making  we  discern 
Nature's  method  of  individualizing  **  soul"  or 
form  ;  it  being  rationally  conceivable  that  the 
individual  soul  is  represented  by  etheric  move- 
ments of  a  more  subtle  description  than  those 
that  constitute  the  bodily  elements.  Organ- 
ization and  intelligence,  however,  rise  hand  in 
hand,  each  dependent  upon  the  other.  "  Sun- 
dered, were  that  possible,  matter  would  no 


Aftermath  153 

longer  be  matter ;  the  universe  would  vanish 
on  the  breadth  of  Void." 

The  very  fundamental  tenets  of  evolution 
tell  us  that "  it  is  the  tendency  of  the  function 
to  create  the  organ  "  ;  that,  as  Herbert  Spencer 
puts  it,  "function  precedes  organism."  If 
thought,  then,  were  simply  and  solely  an  out- 
come of  the  brain's  physical  or  material  action, 
this  law  of  evolution  would  be  completely  vio- 
lated, for  it  would  then  be  the  organ  which  had 
created  the  function.  "  We  should  rather  view 
the  brain  as  the  organ  which  materializes  con- 
sciousness and  ideas  in  the  physical  world. 
Otherwise  they  would  exist  only  in  the  etheric 
plane.  If  in  the  evening  of  life  thought  loses 
somewhat  of  its  vigor  and  clarity,  it  is  because 
the  instrument  which  it  possesses  in  order  to 
manifest  itself  no  longer  enjoys  its  pristine 
acuteness,  but  has  become  worn  out  together 
with  the  physical  body." 

It  has  also  too  long  and  too  often  been  said 
that  Nature  has  no  concern  for  the  individual. 
It  was,  and  is,  a  superficial  view.     A  closer 


154         l^h^  Evolution  of  Immortality 

view  shows  that,  in  her  processes  and  ongoings, 
she  \^  as  concerned  for  the  individual  as  for 
the  mass.  In  fact,  one  may  almost  say  that 
Nature  cares  for  nothing  else  than  the  individ- 
ual. The  sequence  of  Nature's  laws  is  marked 
by  her  movements  from  homogeneity  to  heter- 
ogeneity ;  from  the  one  substance  to  an  as- 
cending scale  of  infinite  transformations  of  the 
same,  —  her  own  substance,  her  own  body, 
possessing  the  elements  of  her  own  being,  both 
physical  and  psychical,  in  potential  if  not  in 
actual  form. 

Viewing  the  subject,  then,  from  the  stand- 
point of  science, "  disembodied  spirit "  is,  in  the 
abstract,  unthinkable.  To  disembody  spirit  or 
personality  would  be  the  sure  way  of  annihilat- 
ing it.  Disembody  an  atom,  and  the  atom  is 
gone.  Spirit,  life,  intelligence,  energy,  ex- 
presses and  manifests  substance,  or  some  dif- 
ferentiated form  of  substance.  Were  it  pos- 
sible to  absolutely  annihilate  any  particle  of 
substance,  all  its  characteristic  manifestations 
would  cease  to  be.  Body  and  manifestation, 
ion  and  psychon,  are  mutually  dependent.    In 


Aftermath  155 

an  essential  sense  they  are  one.  Who  shall 
say  which,  if  either,  is  primary?  Is  either 
primary  ?  This,  however,  is  not  saying  that 
the  sentient  element  in  any  given  individual 
form  or  body  of  substance  is  not  the  dominant 
force  in  its  evolution,  the  one  permanent  qual- 
ity that  abides,  while  forms  continually  change. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  higher  scientific  syn- 
thesis of  to-day  makes  it  possible  to  define  not 
only  life,  but  the  universe  itself,  as  consciotisly 
directed  energy. 

As  long,  then,  as  spirit,  life,  consciousness, 
remains  existent,  there  must  be  form,  body, 
expression ;  else  there  would  be  no  differentia- 
tion,—  Nature's  method  of  constituting  and 
characterizing  individuality  of  being. 

In  an  essential  sense,  then,  body  is  the  price, 
so  to  speak,  of  individuality,  here  or  elsewhere, 
in  this  form  of  life  or  any  other  conceivable 
form.  And  the  same  principle  will  apply  with 
equal  force  if  we  substitute  the  word  person- 
ality for  individuality. 

This  conception  is  in  harmony  with  what  is 
now  seen  to  be  one  of  Nature's  most  funda- 


156  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

mental  principles  in  organic  evolution  :  the 
"  innate  tendency  to  differentiate."  This  prin- 
ciple is,  in  fact,  the  basis  of  Nature's  universal 
law  of  growth.  Without  it  there  would  be 
even  no  physical  world  with  its  co-operative 
associations  and  principles  which  underlie  the 
perpetuity  of  individual  life  and  its  embodi- 
ment in  physical  form.  It  is  so  fundamental 
that  we  may  well  term  it  the  "  God-principle  " 
within  all  forms  of  life,  more  effective  in  the 
evolutionary  processes  than  even  heredity  or 
environment.  To  it  man  owes  his  divine  im- 
pulse to  strive^  —  strive  to  know,  strive  to 
attain,  —  to  evermore  strive  on  and  upward, 
notwithstanding  whatever  difficulties  beset  his 
pathway.  And  this  is  no  accident.  It  is 
the  nature  of  the  "stuff"  out  of  which  he  is 
"made" — evolved.  And  is  it  not,  likewise, 
a  divine  promise  that  he  shall  not  strive  in  vain 
in  his  effort,  his  co-operative  effort  to  establish 
the  stability  and  perpetuity  of  his  own  evolving 
individuality  ? 

We  thus  catch  a  glimpse  of  "  at  what  a  heavy 


Aftermath  157 

price  the  material  universe  must  buy  its  organic 
life,  which  is  its  beauty,  seeing  that  it  pays 
with  its  very  existence.  Is  it  not  legitimate 
to  think  that  this  is  no  useless  sacrifice,  but 
that  it  must  contribute  to  transfer  permanently 
to  a  newer  and  more  subtle  plane  that  ephem- 
eral life  which  the  universe  has  purchased 
with  its  own  ? " 

Again,  it  is  said,  and  by  one  who  has  given 
the  border-land  discoveries  of  modern  science 
the  most  profound  study  :  "  We  know  that  the 
most  insignificant  material  facts  are  recorded 
in  the  invisible  ether  ;  it  preserves  their  image 
in  its  unceasing  vibrations ;  must  we  not  sup- 
pose that  life  itself  and,  above  all,  personality, 
which  are  the  most  dearly  purchased  manifesta- 
tions of  the  activity  of  the  universe,  likewise 
persist  in  the  hidden  vibrations  of  a  yet  more 
subtle  ether  ? " 

Planes  of  the  etheric  substance,  as  well  as 
of  the  grosser  forms  of  matter,  are  here  clearly 
suggested  by  this  writer ;  and  not  only  hinted. 


158         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

but  clearly  held  by  himself  and  others  in 
current  literature  upon  the  subject.  Call  this 
a  mere  speculation,  a  conjecture,  if  we  will ; 
but  it  is  a  scientific  conjecture,  supported  by 
a  vast  and  rapidly  increasing  body  of  accepted 
fact ;  and  it  may  be  seen  how  grandly  it  gen- 
eralizes the  doctrine  of  evolution,  seeing  that 
"  it  supposes  the  incessant  transformations 
which  that  doctrine  observes  in  living  organ- 
isms to  be  taking  place,  not  only  in  perceptible 
matter,  but  also  in  all  the  planes  of  an  increas- 
ingly subtle  fluidic  matter.  Such  a  supposi- 
tion carries  back  the  limits  of  the  infinitely 
small  far  beyond  the  boldest  flights  of  the 
imagination,  and  we  thus  recognize  that  the 
wonderful  ether  which  bathes  all  worlds  is 
really  the  necessary  agent  of  the  unity  of  cre- 
ation, not  only  in  the  infinity  of  space,  but  in 
the  infinity  of  life." 

We  to-day,  by  virtue  of  the  principle  of  dif- 
ferentiation here  referred  to,  recognize  our- 
selves as  but  individual^  differentiated  forms 


Aftermath  159 

of  the  one  substance,  inheriting  —  actually 
inheriting  —  something  of  the  attributes  and 
qualities  of  that  substance,  —  "  children  of 
God,"  as  the  older  phrase  renders  it.  Out  of 
that  substance  we  have  emerged,  bringing  with 
us  life,  and  mind,  and  spiritual  being.  There- 
fore "  whatever  may  be  in  this  substratum  "  is 
ours  by  right  of  inheritance,  and  ours  to  attain 
as  individuals,  —  unless,  perchance,  we  forget 
to  strive.  Surely,  moreover,  one  of  the  qual- 
ities of  this  infinite  substratum  is  its  eternal  en- 
durance, its  endlessness  of  existence.  Neither 
beginning  nor  ending  is  conceivable  here. 

Combining,  then,  old  and  new  phrases,  we 
may  say  :  From  God  we  come,  and  in  God  we 
move  ever  on  and  up  through  the  stairway  of 
ascending  forms,  —  organic  because  vital  and 
living,  possessing  and  partaking  of  the  one 
eternal  energy  common  to  the  one  eternal 
substance  which  pervades,  if  it  does  not  even 
constitute,  the  universe  of  Being,  carrying 
with  itself  the  energies  of  physical  and  spir- 
itual life. 


i6o         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

Bodies,  then,  may  not  be  left  out  of  the 
rational  conception  of  what  constitutes  an  im- 
mortal personal  existence.  Not  these  bodies 
which  we  know  so  well,  it  is  true.  These  are, 
even  now,  ever  changing  day  by  day.  And 
this  fact,  rightly  viewed,  should  give  us  a  clue 
and  hint  of  what  lies  before  us.  In  a  strictly 
scientific  sense  we  have  no  real  self -ownership 
in  this  ever  flowing  stream  of  the  primordial 
physical  elements  that  constitutes  our  visible 
bodies  ;  its  "  usufruct "  is  all  that,  in  any  real 
sense,  ever  belongs  to  us.  The  only  really 
permanent  element  that  is  ours,  in  an  organic 
sense,  is  "  an  etheric  vortex,  generating  from 
minute  to  minute  the  movements  of  life."  Of 
this  super-physical  element,  now  invisible  to 
sense  perception,  our  real  bodies  are  consti- 
tuted; and  we  already  know  enough  of  its 
nature  to  assure  us  that  it  is  not  subject  to 
any  of  the  destructive  accidents  that  beset  the 
grosser  forms  of  matter,  such  as  flesh  and  blood 
represent.     "The  living  organism,  neverthe- 


Aftermath  i6i 

less,  preserves  its  own  permanent  personality, 
which  we  are  unable  to  connect  with  any  of 
the  material  forces  which  are  present.  We  are 
bound  to  admit  that  we  are  confronted  with 
a  new  force,  independent  of  the  others  and  of 
a  nature  more  subtle  than  theirs."*  This  is 
very  significant  when  taken  in  connection  with 
the  remark  of  the  same  eminent  philosopher, 
that  it  is  well  known  that  "  the  ether  registers 
with  incorruptible  fidelity  the  most  insignifi- 
cant facts." 

Transformations,  then,  take  on,  as  well  as 
put  off.  And  science  now  shows  us  the  ma- 
terial at  hand,  in  infinite  abundance,  for  life's 
uses  in  the  construction  of  its  finer  forms  of 
differentiation.  Of  this  material  a  late  writer 
says  :  "  Though  the  "  (our  present)  "  material 
body  is  the  only  body  which  at  the  present  mo- 
ment actually  responds  to  its  environment,  yet 
the  latent  capacity  for  such  response  inheres 
in  each  body  in  the  ethereal  series,  ready  to  be- 


•  Louis  Elb6  :  "  Futnre  Life  in  the  Light  of  Ancient 
Wisdom  and  Modem  Science." 


1 62         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

come  actual  upon  the  advent  of  the  requisite 
stimulus,  —  the  death  of  the  outer  body.  The 
ethereal  body,  of  course,  is  not  affected  by 
any  of  the  agencies  that  operate  to  injure 
or  destroy  masses  of  our  matter.  Neither 
sword-blade  nor  bullet  can  divide  it,  the  weight 
of  all  the  seas  cannot  crush  it,  closest  sealing 
cannot  confine  it.  The  ethereal  body  knows 
not  the  hurts  of  the  material.  I  do  not  see, 
therefore,  why  any  organic  individual  should 
ever  die.  I  do  not  think  one  ever  does.  Sim- 
ply, when  the  death  transformation  overtakes 
it,  and  the  material  body  drops  away,  the  next 
more  tenuous  body,  flowing  free,  takes  on  new 
beauty  as  the  new  adjustment  arises  between 
it  and  the  psychic  energies  released  from  their 
previous  association."* 

Let  us,  to  illustrate  this  conception,  con- 
sider a  single  analogy  drawn  from  the  history 
of  embryological  life.  The  mature  embryo  finds 
itself  provided  with  an  organ  heretofore  un- 
used, that  of  respiration.    During  its  placental 

*  F.  H.  Turner  :  "  Beside  the  New- Made  Grave." 


Aftermath  163 

life  and  embodiment  there  is  no  need  of  such 
an  organ  as  the  lungs,  and  no  explanation  of  its 
presence  is  to  be  found  other  than  that  which 
points  to  some  other  stage  of  life  and  environ- 
ment than  its  placental  existence.  This  organ 
could  function  only  as  it  received  the  direct 
stimulus  of  a  new  environment.  This  it  re- 
ceives in  the  *'  death-transformation  "  from  its 
placental  embodiment  to  this  stage  of  life's  dif- 
ferentiation,—  what  we  recognize  as  "birth." 
And  in  its  response  to  this  stimulus  —  its  first 
independent  physical  act  —  life's  newly  ac- 
quired processes  begin  their  new  adjustmentSj 
in  a  world  so  vastly  greater  than  the  old  that 
the  continuity  of  relationship  is  readily  lost 
sight  of. 

Something  not  unlike  this,  we  may  reason- 
ably suppose,  takes  place  when  we  finally  exit 
from  this  present  gross  body  of  ours.  We 
already  possess  spiritual  organs,  or,  at  least,  a 
vast  surplus  of  spiritual  capacity  and  power, 
that  are  unessential  to  a  merely  physical  exist- 
ence here  and  now.   Why  should  we  not,  then, 


164  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

regard  these  as  prophetic  of  a  stage  of  life 
where  their  true  functioning  shall  adequately 
explain  their  present  germal  existence  ?  The 
lung  of  an  embryo,  as  well  as  many  another 
organ,  had  no  meaning  apart  from  a  stage 
of  life  then  yet  to  be  entered  upon.  So,  it 
may  truly  be  said,  the  evident  capacities  and 
foregleamings  of  a  spiritual  nature,  manifest 
here  in  this  life,  have  no  sufficient  meaning 
or  explanation  apart  from  a  stage  where  a 
full  and  free  adjustment  of  adaptation  to  its 
native  air  shall  be  possible.  And,  clearly,  the 
"  native  air  "  of  this  inner,  evolving  organism 
of  ours  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  atmosphere 
of  that  etheric  world  whose  confines  are  as 
illimitable  as  spiritual  existence. 

To  illustrate  further,  this  basic  substance 
of  our  bodies,  the  "  mother-substance  "  as  it  is 
coming  to  be  called,  being  one,  and  its  energy 
one,  it  may  be  said  that  ultimate  substance  and 
ultimate  energy  afford  us  a  basis  of  organic 
unity.  Energy  inheres  in  the  substance.  It 
is  the  life,  or,  at  least,  the  manifestation  of  the 


Aftermath  165 

life  of  the  substance.  Hence,  the  correlation 
of  energies,  the  transmutation  of  energies,  is 
reduced  to  a  rational  basis.  Science  opens 
here  a  wide  field  for  a  class  of  deductions 
which  it  would  be  underestimation  to  term 
mere  speculations. 

We  have  here  to  take  into  account  the  laws 
that  relate  to  the  indestructibility  of  energy, 
the  laws  of  mechanics,  of  mathematics,  of  chem- 
istry, of  electric  force,  the  physical  laws  and 
phenomena  which  are  accepted  universally  as 
establishing  the  theory  that  action  and  reac- 
tion of  all  forces  are,  always  and  everywhere, 
equal.  Thus,  even  the  laws  of  compensation 
have  a  vital  bearing  upon  our  subject,  and  have 
been  interestingly  and  suggestively  followed 
out  in  some  of  the  later  investigations  into  the 
great  realm  of  universe-energies.  It  is  clearly 
seen,  to-day,  it  is  claimed,  that  the  ether  is  "  a 
wondrous  medium  insuring  the  community  of 
worlds  and  the  unity  of  the  universe  " ;  that 
it  is  "the  fountain-head  of  all  energy";  that 
"  all  the  phenomena  of  which  we  are  cognizant 


1 66         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

are  direct  or  indirect  manifestations  of  the 
ether  acting  upon  matter."  And,  by  apply- 
ing the  laws  of  rational  mechanics,  we  are 
taught  "  how  it  is  possible  for  the  mysterious 
ether  to  register  the  past  and  reveal  the  future 
through  its  never-ending  vibrations,  which  are 
capable  of  infinite  multiplication  without  being 
modified  or  destroyed." 

The  etheric  body,  then,  according  to  this 
theory,  —  and  there  is  a  large  aggregation  of 
rigidly  scientific  data  to  support  the  theory,  — 
"  forms  the  necessary  link  between  the  imma- 
terial soul  and  the  physical  body.  During  life 
it  remains  attached  within  the  body  which  it 
animates,  permeating  all  its  parts.  It  is,  how- 
ever, more  especially  concentrated  in  the  brain 
and  in  the  network  of  sensory  and  motor  nerves, 
the  activity  of  which  it  keeps  up ;  it  subdivides 
itself  in  order  to  penetrate  all  the  organs  of 
the  body,  whereof  it  would  seem  to  espouse 
the  outward  form.  .  .  .  But  it  also  acts  out- 
side the  physical  body  by  giving  rise  to  more 


Aftermath  167 

complex  manifestations  involving  various  fac- 
ulties of  the  soul.  In  certain  special  cases  it 
can  escape  almost  completely  from  the  body, 
and,  to  use  the  now  accepted  term,  externalize 
itself ;  it  can  reveal  its  presence  by  phenom- 
ena visible  to  all,  and  the  investigation  of  those 
phenomena  acquires  particular  interest  as  re- 
gards the  demonstrative  proof  of  the  existence 
of  this  hypothetical  aggregate."  (The  word 
**  aggregate,"  as  here  used,  refers  to  the  etheric 
body. )  Among  these  singular  phenomena  there 
are  almost  conclusive  evidences  "  which  show 
sensitivity,  which  we  erroneously  attribute  to 
the  physical  body,  to  be  a  property  essentially 
distinct  from  the  physical  body,  which  in 
itself  is  inert  like  all  matter."  The  laws 
have  even  been  formulated  which  govern  these 
phenomena. 

To  those  who  have  not  kept  pace  with  the 
advance  of  modem  investigation,  such  state- 
ments as  these  may  seem  like  fairy  tales  from 
Wonderland.  Therefore  it  cannot  be  too  fre- 
quently or  forcibly  stated  that  the  investiga- 


1 68         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

tions  under  review  are  conducted  by,  and  that 
these  reports  come  from,  earnest,  sober,  cau- 
tious, trained  men,  of  recognized  rank  in  the 
modem  scientific  world,  —  much  trustworthy 
light  being  thus  thrown  upon  the  heretofore 
dark  problem  as  to  the  rational  possibility  of 
the  continuance  of  personal  life,  and  of  the 
endlessness  thereof,  after  physical  life  ceases. 
In  fact,  these  investigations,  of  which  a  mere 
hint  is  given  here,  go  far  toward  a  conclusive 
showing  that  the  etheric  body  of  which  we 
are  now  possessed  is  the  basis  of  that  life  and 
consciousness  which  constitute  our  present  real 
personality  ;  and  that  it  is  in  no  wise  affected, 
as  to  its  real  integrity,  by  the  accident  of  mere 
physical  death. 

To-day,  then,  we  are  allowed,  in  the  name 
of  science,  **  to  cling  energetically  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  survival,  which  is  presented  to  us  upon 
the  double  authority  of  the  deductions  based 
upon  universal  tradition,  and  upon  the  obser- 
vation of  facts." 


Aftermath  169 


Let  us  not,  in  our  thought,  be  befogged  by- 
words. Science  to-day  sees  energy  everywhere 
in  the  universe.  No  remotest  or  minutest  bit 
of  space  anywhere  but  teems  with  manifold 
energy.  The  ether  is  universal  in  space,  per- 
meating all  *•  bodies  "  equally  with  all  "  space." 
It  is  space ;  and  thus  its  energy  is,  likewise, 
coequal  with  space. 

What,  then,  is  energy .? 

However  we  may  define  the  word,  can  its 
ultimate  meaning  be  less  than  Life }  Energy 
apart  from  some  form  of  life  is  inconceivable. 
And,  conversely,  life  apart  from  some  form  of 
energy  is,  also,  inconceivable.  When  therefore 
we  speak,  in  scientific  terms,  of  resolving  the 
material  universe  into  ether-energy,  we  are 
practically  resolving  it  into  terms  of  life  ;  and 
we  may  as  well  say  that  every  remotest  and 
every  minutest  bit  of  space  teems  with  man- 
ifold life.  And  we  should  remember  here  that 
the  word  life  embraces  its  psychic  forms  of 


170         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

expression,  as  well  as  the  physical;  for  "life 
is  the  subjective  side  of  matter,  its  personal 
attribute  :  that  property  which  renders  the 
*  ion '  a  *  psychon.'  "  To-day  we  know  that  this 
remark  by  a  noted  biologist  is  as  applicable  to 
the  ether  as  it  is  to  any  form  of  matter. 

Life,  then,  is  the  one  great  fact.  There  is 
no  room  for  death  anywhere  in  God's  worlds. 
Death  is  not,  as  we  have  been  taught  for  so 
long  a  time,  "the  final  law  of  Nature."  Life 
is  the  law  of  Nature,  and  evermore  life,  as 
modern  biology  so  surely  proves  ;  and  it  is  no 
less  the  aim  and  purpose  of  Nature  than  it  is 
the  final  outcome  of  the  "  Kingdom  of  God," 
here  or  elsewhere.  We  have,  like  foolish  chil- 
dren, mistaken  the  real  significance  of  Nature's 
processes  in  achieving  her  upward  transforma- 
tions and  correlations  of  life^  and  have  called 
it  "death."  This,  to  the  author,  seems  to  be 
the  necessary  and  rational  deduction  to  be 
drawn  from  an  unbiased  study  of  such  scientific 
data  as  the  last  twenty  years  have  afforded. 


Aftermath  171 

No  *'  creed  "  of  science,  however,  let  it  be 
said,  can  yet  be  written  ;  perhaps  it  never  will 
be  written  in  full.  But  at  every  stage  in  its 
advance  certain  lines  of  drift  or  tendency  may 
be  noted  as  indicating  the  trend,  more  or  less 
general,  of  scientific  deduction  regarding  any 
given  subject. 

It  is  true  that  a  purely  negative  attitude  is 
not  normal  to  the  human  mind.  It  must  be- 
lieve something,  if  only  in  a  tentative  sense. 
This  is  especially  the  fact  where,  as  in  this 
case,  the  origin  and  destiny  of  human  beings 
is  involved.  Men  and  women,  the  world  over, 
are  not  content,  and  never  will  be  content,  to 
rest  in  absolute  unbelief.  Abundant  caution 
should  therefore  be  exercised  in  the  weighing 
of  evidence.  At  the  same  time,  one  need  not 
foreordain  himself  to  the  status  of  positively 
obstinate  unbelief  simply  because  the  evidence 
falls  short  of  absolute  proof.  That  attitude 
may  be  the  plain  badge  of  weakness  rather 
than  of  mental  strength.    Candor,  open-mind- 


172  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

edness,  is  no  less  a  virtue  than  is  strenuous 
caution.  A  really  judicial  mind  is  swayed  by 
the  preponderance  of  evidence  rather  than  by 
a  preconceived  opinion.  One  needs  always  to 
be  on  guard  against  the  conceit  of  a  "  superior 
intelligence."  The  special  feature,  however, 
which  marks  this  age,  as  compared  with  the 
past,  is  the  fact  that,  to-day,  foundations  of  be- 
lief are  far  more  searchingly  inquired  into,  and 
the  rational  faculty  is  less  easily  satisfied.  Evi- 
dences of  a  scientific  nature  are  called  for,  and 
must  be  forthcoming,  before  much  credence 
is  given  to  a  "  faith  "  that  claims  to  lift  the 
veil  of  the  future.  This  is  inevitable  and 
well.  No  lover  of  his  kind  would  turn  back 
the  tide. 

It  is  to  be  said,  however,  that  no  one  with 
an  observant  eye  can  have  failed  to  note  that 
a  marked  change  is  taking  place  in  the  attitude 
of  scientific  thought  regarding  immortality. 
Throughout  the  world,  numbers  of  men  of  prac- 
tical scientific  training  are  carefully  weighing 
the  evidences,  pro  and  con,  which  these  later 


Aftermath  173 

years  afford ;  and  the  general  verdict  is  such 
that  science,  rigid,  austere  science,  can  no 
longer  be  quoted  as  purely  negative  in  its  atti- 
tude. **  It  may  be  that  a  future  life  awaits 
every  human  being,  but  science  knows  of  no 
evidence  that  it  is  so,"  was  formerly  the  almost 
universal  voice  from  the  strictly  scientific  world. 
The  note  now  is  very  different.  Proof,  abso- 
lute proof,  is  lacking ;  no  one  talks  of  proof ; 
but,  considering  the  question  dispassionately 
and  comprehensively,  from  the  viewpoint  of 
scientific  data  solely,  there  exists  to-day,  it  may 
truthfully  be  said,  a  body  of  affirmative  evi- 
dence sufficiently  strong  to  warrant  a  rational 
conclusion  that  this  life  does  not  end  all,  nor 
lead  out  into  a  void  of  utter  darkness.  Slowly 
but  surely,  a  new  faith  is  growing  up  in  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  men ;  a  faith  born  of  a 
deeper  and  saner  knowledge  of  the  laws  and 
principles  that  govern  this  living  universe,  in 
which  and  of  which  we  are  and  must  ever  be 
a  vitally  essential  part. 

Let  the  following  quotation  from  the  work 


174         T^^^  Evolution  of  Immortality 

of  a  specialist  in  biological  investigation  give 
merely  a  hint  of  much  of  similar  character  that 
is  now  available  :  "  Within  a  normal  ♦  cell '  of 
living  matter  there  is  an  expression  of  energy 
not  derived  from  gravitation,  but  superior  to 
it ;  as  if  emanating  from  an  inner  seat  of  en- 
ergy, as  if  acting  upon  matter  at  a  different 
angle  or  point  d'  appui.  Such  an  opinion  by 
no  means  conflicts  with  the  monistic  concep- 
tion of  energy.  It  is  meant  merely  to  set  forth 
that  life  is  not  the  immediate  derivative  of  grav- 
itation, or  chemism,  .  .  .  but  rather  a  static 
property  of  matter  which  antedates  gravity, 
and,  in  the  intimate  composition  of  matter, 
outranks  it."* 

Furthermore,  to  pursue  now  our  thought 
along  another  but  related  line,  it  may  be  said 
that  life,  while  manifesting  itself  in  degrees 
and  stages  according  to  the  complexity  of  the 
organism  in  which  it  is  found  embodied,  comes 
first  of  all  in  man  to  a  clear  and  perfect  con- 
*  C.  A.  Stephens,  M.D.  :   "Natural  Salvation." 


Aftermath  175 

sciousness  of  itself  as  an  individual  differenti- 
ation from  its  parent  source.  This  does  not 
imply  that  intelligence  and  consciousness,  or 
that  self-consciousness  even,  are  known  only 
to  man.  The  implications  based  upon  the 
broader  knowledge  of  to-day  are,  rather,  that 
all  of  these  qualities,  and  far  more  than  these, 
inhere  in  that  infinite  substratum,  the  basic 
substance  or  source  from  which  man  has 
come,  —  from  which  he  is  evolved  by  the  in- 
nate differentiating  laws  that  inhere  in  that 
substratum. 

Man,  the  child,  we  trace  back  to  the  infi- 
nite substance  and  its  inhering  life ;  in  other 
words,  to  the  Infinite  Life.  Man's  life,  then, 
surely  cannot  rise,  in  any  degree,  above  its 
source.  Whatever  is  good  and  divine  in 
him  inheres  also  in  the  substratum  that  pre- 
cedes him  and  of  which  he  is.  Source  or 
cause  cannot  be  less  than  effect.  We  may 
reasonably  hold,  therefore,  that  man  possesses 
enough  of  the  divine  impulsion  within  himself 
to  insure,  soon  or  late,  harmonious  relations 


1/6         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

of  life  with  Life.  Else  how  are  we  to  explain 
the  ever  present,  "innate  tendency  to  differ- 
entiate," the  impulse  to  strive ^  to  aspire,  which 
seems  so  universally  to  characterize  all  normal, 
healthy  Hfe  ?  It  is  there,  embedded  in  Nature 
like  a  fundamental  principle,  and  in  some  sat- 
isfactory way  it  must  be  accounted  for  in  our 
systems  of  thought.  Is  it  satisfactory  to  say 
that,  after  all,  we  are  to  strive  in  vain .?  And, 
furthermore,  for  what  are  we  striving .?  Is  it 
anything  less  than  an  ever  ascending  scale  of 
individual  differentiations,  an  immortality  of 
being,  separate  from  but  in  harmony  with  uni- 
versal Being  ?  Immortality,  we  are  told  by  one 
of  our  modern  specialists  in  the  great  field  of 
biology,  "is  what  the  whole  scheme  of  evolu- 
tion moves  forward  to ;  it  is  the  dream  of  all 
the  longsuffering  ages  of  man  "  ;  and  he  might 
have  added  that  it  is,  as  well,  the  unconscious 
dream  of  all  organic  life  below  man. 

Still  another  hne  of  thought  or  deduction 
presents  itself  in  connection  with  the  foregoing. 


Aftermath  177 

which  may  be  noted  in  this  connection.  To 
many  minds  faith,  however  attained,  is  all-suf- 
ficient. These  do  not  ask  for,  perhaps  do  not 
need,  a  rational  basis  for  their  faith.  But  as 
a  result  of  all  the  great  movements  which 
to-day  are  overturning  traditional  forms  and 
systems  of  religious  belief,  there  has  come  a 
wide-spread  skepticism,  in  the  public  mind,  as 
to  the  validity  of  the  foundations  underlying 
the  traditional  faith  in  immortality.  This  is  a 
matter-of-fact  age.  There  is  little  of  the  poet, 
or  of  the  poetic  insight,  in  it.  It  lacks,  and  is 
rather  scornful  of,  either  the  conscious  or  un- 
conscious imaginative  quality  which  serves  the 
poet  so  well.  Symbolism  is  vague  and  mean- 
ingless to  it.  That  which  the  poetic  imagina- 
tion discovers  as  "most  divinely  true,"  and 
which  it  seeks  to  express  through  the  language 
of  emblems,  the  merely  intellectual  world  pro- 
nounces "  logically  false." 

The  intellectual  method,  so  much  the  fashion 
to-day,  possesses,  in  many  ways,  very  great 
merit ;  the  modern  world  is  greatly  its  debtor. 


178  The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

But  were  the  world  to  limit  itself  to  the  intel- 
lectual method  alone,  it  would  fail  to  catch  the 
truest  aspect  of  the  deeper  realities  which  have 
only  to  be  perceived  in  order  to  lift  the  life, 
awe  the  soul,  and  touch  the  emotions.  It  re- 
quires no  very  remarkably  high  intellectual 
quality  to  perceive  that  all  its  so-called  "  per- 
fect conceptions  "  are  but  the  merest  shadows 
after  all.  They  always  fall  short  of  the  larger 
fact. 

The  truth  is,  feeling  and  imagination  must 
be  allowed  their  perfect  work  in  any  really  in- 
tellectual scheme,  while  at  the  same  time  reason 
has  its  great  part  to  play.  In  any  future  out- 
lining of  the  new  faiths  and  beliefs  that  await 
the  coming  day,  the  two  must  combine.  The 
head  must  marry  the  heart,  in  that  truest  and 
most  loyal  sense  which  makes  of  the  union  a 
divine  uplifting  of  each  to  a  higher  plane  of 
insight  and  life.  The  essential  thing  is  that 
the  intellect  penetrate  deeply,  and  evermore 
deeply,  into  the  mysteries  of  Nature;  while 
the  heart,  as  it  surely  will,  shall  thus  rise  ever 


Aftermath  179 

higher  in  the  realm  of  a  saner  imagination 
and  truer  feeling,  being,  as  it  will  be,  re- 
sponsive to  the  greater  and  more  far-reach- 
ing knowledge. 

The  traditional  forms  of  faith  in  the  survival 
of  the  soul  after  death,  as  indicated  by  even  a 
very  large  proportion  of  our  present  religious 
literary  and  pulpit  utterances,  have  dwindled 
down  to  a  vague  and  indefinite  "  hope."  "  I 
wish  I  could  believe,"  it  is  often  sadly  said, 
**  but  I  cannot  and  preserve  my  intellectual  in- 
tegrity." "I  cannot  believe  in  an  immortal 
life,"  recently  said  a  highly  intellectual  wife  and 
mother ;  "  nevertheless,  I  am  frantic  to  be  able 
to  do  so."  This  woman,  it  must  be  admitted, 
represents  to-day  a  large  and  rapidly  increasing 
class  of  minds  ;  and  it  is  little  wonder  that  such 
is  the  case.  The  world  is  in  the  vortical  center 
of  one  of  its  vast  transitional  stages.  It  sadly, 
and  consciously,  needs  a  faith  which  does  not 
run  counter  to  its  new  intellectual  position. 
The  foundations  of  its  inherited  faith  no  longer 
answer  to  the  demands  of  even  popular  knowl- 


l8o         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

edge.  Overwhelming  doubt  and  a  brooding 
fear  have  usurped  the  place  of  childlike  trust. 
The  head  tries  in  vain  to  see  and  comprehend 
what  the  heart  impels  to.  For  those  lacking 
the  new  scientific  insight,  great  brazen  Hons 
of  misunderstood  intellectual  fact  beset  the 
way,  and  "  death  "  seems  but  the  passing  of 
the  soul  into  unavoidable  night.  Many  are 
too  honest  to  evade  the  doubt,  and  they  face 
it  steadily  if  sternly,  loyal  above  all  to  the  light 
that  appeals  to  their  highest  conceptions  of 
sanity  and  right  judgment.  Nevertheless,  the 
heart  clings,  instinctively  if  despairingly,  to  the 
vaster  hope,  so  inwrought  is  it  in  the  deep  ex- 
periences and  longings  of  mankind. 

The  pathos  of  the  picture  !  Scarcely  has  the 
world  before  seen  the  like.  And  there  is  a 
shade  of  grandeur  about  it ;  for,  amid  its  deep- 
est shadows,  there  glows  like  a  phosphorescent 
light  the  undying  instinct  for  and  devotion  to 
truth,  however  it  may  seem  to  affect  man's 
preconceived  personal  holdings.  Do  we  not 
have  the  history  of  the  race  as  a  sanction  for 


Aftermath  i8i 

the  belief  that  such  loyal  following  of  the 
highest  conceptions  of  truth  shall  lead  out, 
unquestionably,  into  a  larger  and  fuller  light 
and  life? 

To  meet,  then,  the  world's  present  temper 
and  intellectual  attitude,  faith  in  personal  im- 
mortality must  be  reinforced  by  the  affirma- 
tions of  a  new  scripture  —  the  scripture  of 
Nature's  processes  and  laws.  At  the  least,  a 
rational  method  must  come  to  the  support  and 
clarification  of  the  traditional  faith.  This  is 
the  undoubted  need  of  the  hour. 

And  it  is  coming.  The  alphabet  of  the  new 
language  is  already  here ;  and  the  task  of  ar- 
ranging it  in  order,  so  as  to  spell  out  the  new 
gospel  —  the  gospel  of  physical  science  —  is 
already  well  under  way.  Thus,  and  thus  alone, 
shall  the  head  and  the  heart  of  mankind  again 
be  united,  and  the  blossoms  of  serenity  and 
peace  spring  anew  along  the  pathway  of  mor- 
tal life. 


1 82         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

One  of  the  chief  intellectual  bars  to  the  con- 
ception of  the  survival  of  human  personality 
beyond  this  life  has  already  been  alluded  to,  — 
namely,  the  "disembodied  spirit  myth,"  as  it 
has  been  called.  Here  indeed,  in  the  case  of 
the  older  forms  of  thought,  existed  a  difficulty 
which  the  traditional  faith  alone  —  the  faith  of 
dogmatic  "  authority  " —  could  surmount.  The 
day  has  come,  however,  when  to  "  faith  "  may 
be  added  some  elements  of  "  knowledge,"  to- 
gether with  much  more  which,  though  indeed 
as  yet  to  be  classed  as  conjecture,  may  still  be 
received  as  having  behind  it  a  large  body  of 
generally  accepted  fact. 

It  is  not  difficult  to-day,  for  one  who  is  famil- 
iar with  the  latest  discoveries  in  physical  sci- 
ence, to  predict  that  the  time  is  near  at  hand 
when  this  of  late  rejected  stone  of  the  older 
faith  will  become  the  chief  corner-stone  of  the 
new.  And  our  theologians  will  do  well  to  take 
note  of  this  fact,  recalling  the  contemplative  in- 
sight accredited  to  Paul,  borrowed  from  Greek 


Aftermath  183 

philosophy,  wherein  he,  or  someone  writing  in 
his  name,  saw  that  there  is  a  "  natural  body  '* 
and  there  is  a  "  spiritual  body,"  even  here  and 
now  during  this  present  stage  of  life.*  All 
that  is  needed  in  amending  the  New  Testament 
conception  is  to  substitute  the  word  "  etheric  " 
for  the  word  **  spiritual," — substantial  agree- 
ment with  the  most  modern  views  at  once 
follows.  And  the  agreement  will  seem  all  the 
more  complete  if  we  bear  in  mind  that  the 
"natural  body"  is  composed  of  what  is  com- 
monly understood  as  "  matter,"  and  that  the 
"  ether  "  forming  the  "  spiritual  body  "  of  mod- 
em apprehension  is  a  finer,  more  tenuous  sub- 
stance, non-material  in  its  phenomena,  and,  in 
that  sense  at  least,  truly  "  spiritual " ;  although, 
at  the  same  time,  it  must  be  regarded,  and  in 
the  most  real  sense,  as  substance^  and  therefore 
capable  of  performing  or  answering  to  all  the 
demands  and  functions  of  body^  the  subjective 

*  It  is  suggested  that  the  reader  recall  the  analogies  cited 
as  the  basis  of  the  argument  presented  in  the  early  pages 
of  this  book. 


184         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

phase  of  which  is  "  psychon  " —  life,  conscious- 
ness, mind,  personality,  "  soul." 

Furthermore,  it  requires  to-day  no  wildly  im- 
aginative faculty  to  enable  one  to  at  least  begin 
to  perceive  that  in  Nature's  transformation  act 
falsely  called  death  she  is  simply  relieving  the 
"natural"  body  of  its  functional  activity  of 
embodying  an  individual  personality,  and  trans- 
ferring that  individual  personality  to  an  etheric 
body  already  present  and,  at  least  potentially, 
prepared  to  receive  it.  This,  no  doubt,  would 
be  a  daring  assertion  to  make  at  the  present 
time  in  any  positive  way ;  yet  such  assertion 
is  being  made,  and  by  those  who  have  given 
the  most  careful  attention  and  comprehensive 
consideration  to  the  latest  border-land  discov- 
eries in  scientific  investigation.  Such  writers 
and  seekers  have  come  to  understand  that  the 
word  "  growth  "  is  an  infinitely  pregnant  evo- 
lutionary term,  involving  in  its  processes  an 
all-pervasive  organizing  intelligence  as  bound- 
less and  illimitable  as  the  universe  itself. 

When  the  original  of  this  little  volume  was 


Aftermath  185 

issued,  no  attempt  was  made  to  show  how,  in 
accord  with  natural  laws,  the  transference  of 
an  individual  personality  from  the  "  natural  " 
body  to  an  ethereal  body  was  or  could  be  con- 
ceived of  as  rationally  possible.  The  mere 
suggestion  of  such  transference  was  all  that 
the  then  known  facts  seemed  to  warrant.  Now, 
however,  scientific  attainment  is  broader,  the 
problem  presents  a  different  aspect,  and  a  wide 
field  is  opening  wherein  the  "  perplexities  of 
knowledge  "  may  be  brought  into  freer  and  far 
more  harmonious  relations  with  those  world- 
wide intuitions  which  underlie  the  "feelings" 
of  human  experience. 

Here  is  an  inviting  field  on  which  the  author 
might  enter  in  the  immediate  connection ;  but 
the  limitations  of  a  simple  Appendix  forbid. 
And  the  present  writer  turns  from  it  less  re- 
luctantly because  others  have  recently  dealt 
with  it  and  with  allied  subjects. 

It  is,  however,  legitimate  to  say  here  that  a 
glimpse,  hinting  at  the  process  or  manner,  may 
be  gained  by  referring  to  the  main  analogy 


1 86         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

dealt  with  in  the  first  chapters  of  this  volume, 
wherein  it  is  seen  that  the  placental  body  of  an 
evolving  embryo,  with  its  functions,  is  but  one 
of  a  series  of  bodies,  leading  up  ever  to  higher 
forms  of  organized  life.  It  therefore  appears 
that  the  additions  of  twenty  years  to  meta- 
physical data  come  in  the  natural  order  of  evo- 
lution, and  have  brought  no  refutation  of  such 
implications  and  logical  deductions  as  are  found 
in  these  pages.  On  the  contrary,  the  author 
fully  believes  that  the  scientific  discoveries  of 
these  later  years,  together  with  a  rational  view 
of  their  significance  and  natural  implications, 
afford  no  little  reinforcement  to  the  conclu- 
sions and  suggestions  which  seemed  to  him 
warranted  by  the  available  data  of  twenty 
years  ago. 

His  conviction  therefore  remains  that,  as 
each  individual  in  the  past  has  had,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  fundamental  laws  and  principles 
of  evolution,  a  series  of  successive  forms  of 
organic  existence,  unbroken  in  line  of  contin- 
uity ;  so,  by  virtue  of  these  same  laws,  there 


Aftermath  1 8/ 

lies  before  each  one  of  us  an  unending  series, 
an  ever  expanding  or  evolving  succession  of 
individual  forms  and  stages  of  life,  varying  from 
this  that  we  now  know  only  as  the  natural  order 
and  laws  of  growth  —  the  very  soul  and  sub- 
stance of  evolution  —  bring  their  inevitable  and 
unending  changes,  both  in  bodily  form  and  com- 
plexity and  in  psychical  activity.  He  fully  be- 
lieves, moreover,  that  the  time  is  near  when  it 
will  be  clearly  seen  that  without  the  passing 
of  the  present  physical  form  there  could  be  no 
continuous,  progressive  life  ;  that  to  move  out 
of  this  mortal  house  of  ours  is,  for  every  indi- 
vidual soul,  a  positive  condition  of  growth,  and 
no  more  to  be  feared  than  the  parting  with  our 
former  placental  bodies,  which  we  had  out- 
grown and  which  had  become  a  bar  and  hin- 
drance to  our  upward  course. 

It  is  further  his  belief  that  it  will  be  dis- 
cerned that  there  can  be  no  such  state  or  con- 
dition of  existence  as  is  implied  in  the  old 
phrase,  "  disembodied  spirit "  ;  but  that  there 
are  an  infinite  series  of  embodiments,  one  sue- 


1 88         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

ceeding  another  in  the  infinite  gradations  of  a 
finer  and  more  tenuous  substance,  each  grade 
or  special  form  of  substance  being,  by  virtue 
of  its  finer  and  greater  complexity  of  organiza- 
tion, capable  of  a  higher,  finer,  and  more  spirit- 
ual mode  of  expression,  ever  approaching,  but 
never  attaining  unto,  the  full  life  of  Infinite 
Spirit  embodied  in  and  manifesting  the  quali- 
ities  of  Infinite  Substance. 

Dare  we  face  with  unawed  and  unabashed 
countenances  such  outlook  on  the  destiny  of 
humanity  ?  on  our  own  personal  destiny  ? 

What  does  it  mean  to  be  called  the  children 
of  God  ? 

If  children,  then  are  we  like  unto  him,  par- 
takers of  His  nature  and  being ;  inheritors  of 
His  life  ;  beginningless,  endless. 

This  is  the  ultimate  lesson  to  be  learned 
from  the  simple  laws  and  principles  of  mod- 
ern biology,  of  organic  evolution  ;  —  simple, 
and  yet  divine ;  infinite  in  possibility.  Godlike 
in  their  majestic  sweep  and  manifestation. 


Aftermath  189 

Necessarily,  the  presentment  here  of  the 
new  metaphysical  data  now  available  has  been 
fragmentary  and  discursive  —  a  mere  sug- 
gestive outlining  of  a  few  phases  of  a  vast 
range  of  material.  A  fuller  development, 
however,  of  the  writer's  more  personal  views 
may  be  found  in  a  little  volume  (1901)  entitled 
"  New  Modes  of  Thought :  The  New  Material- 
ism and  The  New  Pantheism." 

In  closing,  he  wishes  to  be  permitted  to 
quote  here  the  last  paragraph  of  his  paper  pre- 
sented to  the  World's  Congress  of  Evolution- 
ists (1893),  —  published  a  year  later  under 
the  title  of  "The  Relation  of  Evolutionary 
Thought  to  Immortality":  — 

The  heart  of  man  has  always  claimed  its 
right  to  a  continuance  of  personal  being ;  and 
his  best  and  deepest  intuitions  have  ever  as- 
serted the  certainty  and  validity  of  that  claim. 
And  reason,  searching  long  and  rigidly,  bids 
the  heart  to  a  hope  and  trust  never  so  well 
and  strongly  founded  as  to-day.      It  points 


1 90         The  Evolution  of  Immortality 

toward  no  heaven  of  stationary  existence,  but 
to  a  continuous  life  of  ever  onward  and  upward 
progress,  bound  by  no  limits  of  growth  in  all 
the  realms  of  intelligence,  power,  goodness, 
beauty,  truth,  and  holiness.  It  points  to  the 
progressive  unfolding  of  those  ethical  relations 
and  achievements  which  environ  the  soul  in 
the  very  atmosphere  of  all  that  is  blessed  and 
satisfying ;  and  tells  us  that  this  life  need  not 
be  waited  for  until  some  other  world  shall  em- 
bosom us  within  its  clasp,  but  that  it  may  be 
entered  upon  here  and  now.  It  bids  us  trans- 
mute earth  into  heaven,  and  enter  upon  the 
heritage  prepared  for  us  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


UNIVEESITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


22     I! 


2Jul'68WS 


LIBRARY  USE 

NOV  2  1961 


NOV    2  jdbl 

REC'D  LD! 
NOV   8'63-3 


+ 


30m-l,'15 


dZi.-^  ^6  28238 


5? 


